By So can someone once again explain to me why North Korea is not on the State Sponsors of Terrorism List again?:
Authorities arrested two North Koreans for posing as defectors to South Korea and plotting to assassinate the highest ranking North Korean official ever to defect to Seoul, officials said Wednesday.
Hwang Jang-yop, a former secretary of the North’s ruling Workers Party — who once mentored leader Kim Jong Il — defected to the South in 1997. He has written books and delivered lectures condemning Kim’s regime as totalitarian and now lives under police protection 24 hours a day to prevent North Korean attempts on his life.
The arrest came as tensions escalated after a South Korean warship mysteriously exploded and sank last month near the North Korean border. Speculation is mounting that Pyongyang may be behind the blast.
On Tuesday, Seoul prosecutors arrested two North Korean army majors for entering South Korea by posing as ordinary defectors with an alleged mission to kill the 87-year-old Hwang, according to Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.
The two, both 36, confessed to investigators that their military boss ordered them to report about Hwang’s activities in South Korea and be ready to “slit the betrayer’s throat,” said a senior district prosecutor on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media.
The men, Kim Myong Ho and Dong Myong Kwan, entered South Korea in January and February via Thailand. Their plot was revealed while they underwent an intense investigation on their motive for defecting, the prosecutor said. The duo allegedly violated the National Security Law, which carries a maximum sentence of death upon conviction, he said. [Associated Press]
The possibility of North Korea using defectors as a cover to infiltrate spies into South Korea has been something I have heard a lot about before and it is a legitimate concern as this story shows. It is good to see that the South Korean government has proper investigative controls in place to screen these defectors.
Considering the major spy scandal that plagued the Roh Moo-hyun administration it makes you wonder if these investigative controls were in place back then? If not how many more North Korean operatives could be intermingled with the defector population right now?
Check out One Free Korea for more on this latest North Korean provocation.
7:04 am on April 21st, 2010 1
IMO, ROK should be more concerned about ROK citizens who are working for NK more than NK spies pretending to be defectors.
West Germany found out after the Berlin Wall came down that East Germany had planted almost 40,000 spies in West Germany. Even the secretary of the W Germany Prime Minister was working for E Germany.
7:31 am on April 21st, 2010 2
Gee…isn't that convenient. Right when the lid is about to blow on the Cheon-an sinking – and the Lee administration desperately needs something to divert the public's attention – these two knuckleheads show up.
7:52 am on April 21st, 2010 3
"The two, both 36, confessed to investigators that their military boss ordered them to report about Hwang’s activities in South Korea and be ready to “slit the betrayer’s throat,” said a senior district prosecutor on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media."
If the senior district prosecutor was not authorized to speak to the media, why did he/she? Now when the story is out, will not North Korea arrest those two men's families, relatives, friends, etc.? I do not even want to imagine what North Korea will do to them…
9:20 am on April 21st, 2010 4
TJ, they were not working alone, they never do. There is a whole support network of sympathisers/long term spies in South Korea. The second they were apprehended their families were arrested if not before, just for safety's sake. This was a suicide mission from the begining for them, Mr. Hwang is well protected unlike KJI's late nephew who was gunned down in his apartment. The other leaked annoucement is that they both tried to take cyanide pills. These two are elite volunteers, they are true believers so I have not sympathy for them.
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I do However have some sympathy for their families. If you haven't already please read "Aquariums of Pyongyang" to see what happens to even low-end offender families. People shrug off comments on how evil North Korea is without doing any research. They really are masters of everything we associate with that word.
The really shocking revelation is that North Korea kills off its superstars. You can get killed for doing your job too well. Market Reform guru: dead. Two agents that took Kim Dae Jung's 500 million dollar bribe: dead. The regime will keep its secrets even if it means killing its most loyal subjects. Very Very scary.
11:04 am on April 21st, 2010 5
@Guitard
So are you saying the Lee administration is making up this story of 2 spies?
11:05 am on April 21st, 2010 6
No wonder some ROK citizens/activists/politicians seem so interested in propping up NK no matter what cost.
3:16 pm on April 21st, 2010 7
"I do However have some sympathy for their families."
Call my callous if you will, but it's not as if they would have been able to become spies if their parents weren't die-hard supporters of Kim Jong il.
6:14 pm on April 21st, 2010 8
Perhaps he means elements of the norK and South government are working together…
7:43 pm on April 21st, 2010 9
Sure, but the point I was making is that in order to be trusted by the North Korean government enough to become a spy, don't you think that one must have contributed to the mess? The North Korean government, after all, is akin to an organized crime family.
11:32 pm on April 21st, 2010 10
Teadrinker, I won’t call you callous but in “Aquariums of Pyongyang” the sins of Grandma put the grandson in the Gulag as well. Even those two little Norkbots from “State of Mind” don’t deserve that. People say I’m heartless, but I’m actually only mostly heartless. I do care for people who had no part in the mess they are stuck in and kids usually count up to a certain age which is not 26 as mandated by our new national health care bill.
8:40 am on April 22nd, 2010 11
Thanks for the suggestion regarding “Aquariums of Pyongyang”. I have not read it, but I have seen some documentaries regarding defectors, camp 22, etc. I remember from somewhere that except for families and relatives, even neighbors to defectors are arrested. Horrible.
12:55 pm on April 22nd, 2010 12
Thanks for the suggestion regarding "Aquariums of Pyongyang". I have not read it, but I have seen some documentaries regarding defectors, camp 22, etc. I remember from somewhere that except for families and relatives, even neighbors to defectors are arrested. Horrible.
3:26 am on November 29th, 2010 13
In reply to John's April 21st comment,
I would imagine South Korea is concerned about ROK citizens who may be working for NK. I can't imagine the incentives for a citizen of South Korea being a spy for North Korea. I don't think that would be anything they would be publishing.
4:27 am on November 29th, 2010 14
#13
It wouldn't be hard for nk to entice a sk citizen to work for nk. Some cash works wonder. It works even better because even if you are 'caught', you will just spend a few years in sk jail, not the firing squad which what would happen in nk.