Tag: defectors

Two North Koreans, Including A Military Officer Defect to South Korea

| May 20, 2018

Considering the current attitude towards defectors that the current South Korean government has it will be interesting to see what their response to this is:

Two North Koreans defected to South Korea early on Saturday and were found in the Yellow Sea, Seoul-based news agency Yonhap reported, citing a government source.

Yonhap said that South Korean military spotted two people in a boat near the inter-Korean sea border, one of whom was a military officer, and they showed willingness to defect to the South.

South Korea’s unification ministry was not immediately available for comment.

The defection came after North Korea declined to accept a list of South Korean journalists hoping to observe the closure of its nuclear test site on Friday, raising new questions about the North’s commitment to reducing tensions in the region.  [Business Insider]

Restaurant Worker Defectors Say that JTBC Report Took Their Comments Out of Context

| May 18, 2018

Considering that JTBC was the lead network used to take out former President Park Geun-hye by finding the highly suspicious tablet computer, I would not be surprised at all if they are now trying to create a narrative that these defectors were kidnapped:

North Korean staff who fled a North Korean restaurant in China pose for a photo in this screen grab from CNN on May 12, 2016 

The shift in the ministry’s attitude has made other defectors nervous. One woman who came to South Korea in 2008 and is raising a son here said, “I haven’t slept more than an hour a night since the inter-Korean summit. People like me who have been living quietly could be dragged off to North Korea any moment.”

Some 31,500 North Korean defectors live in South Korea, and many are feeling unsure of their status amid the thaw. They have been seen as having the potential to build bridges between the two sides if the two Koreas reunify but could now find themselves treated as obstacles to the smooth running of the political machine.

They are complaining about the South Korean government’s indifference and ostracism by other South Koreans. To them, it would be a devastating signal if some of the restaurant staff are sent back to the North.  (……………)

Meanwhile, the women who appeared in the JTBC report are living in fear, scared that their identities and whereabouts may be exposed. They have claimed that their comments were taken out of context in the JTBC report.

Civic groups supporting North Korean defectors also said their comments were not portrayed accurately. They simply said they miss their homes and wish to see their parents, but the report made it sound as if they were forced to come to South Korea against their will.

Kim Byung-Jo at the Korea National Defense University said, “North Korean defectors really know the good and bad points of both Koreas. It is important for the government to ensure that they do not feel nervous.”  [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

Effort to Discredit North Korean Restaurant Worker Defection Continues

| May 14, 2018

Kim Jong-un’s favorite lawyer group in South Korea continues its legal attack against the North Korean restaurant workers that defected back in 2016:

This image shows a North Korean group of defectors at the center of a controversy over their defection. (Yonhap)

A liberal lawyers’ group plans to lodge a complaint with prosecutors on Monday against former President Park Geun-hye and her top aides over allegations that Seoul’s intelligence agency engineered a 2016 mass defection by a dozen North Korean restaurant workers.

The Lawyers for a Democratic Society, or Minbyun, said it will lodge the complaint with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office seeking an investigation into Park, her chief of staff Lee Byung-kee, ex-spy chief Lee Byong-ho and the restaurant manager who allegedly took the workers to the South against the will of some of them.

In April 2016, the manager and 12 female North Korean restaurant workers defected to the South. Park’s government said they came of their own free will, while Pyongyang accused Seoul’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) of luring them for political purposes and demanded their repatriation.

Rumors have persisted that the defection, which occurred just before the parliamentary elections, may be the work of the NIS. Minbyun has demanded the government allow its lawyers a face-to-face meeting with the defectors to verify the allegation.

The story took a new turn last week when a cable TV network aired an interview with the restaurant manager. He said that he had planned to defect with his wife but threatened his employees to come with him at the instruction of NIS agents.  [Yonhap]

Here is more from Newsweek:

But last night, on South Korean television, Heo himself admitted that the women were unaware they were being sent to South Korea and that the whole operation had been orchestrated by him and South Korea’s spy agency.

“It was luring and kidnapping, and I know because I took the lead,” Heo told TV channel JTBCon Thursday, as translated by The New York Times.

At least three of the women also appeared on the program with their names withheld and their faces blurred. One of the trio said “I want to go home because living like this is not the life I wanted,” adding, “I miss my parents.”  [Newsweek]

If these restaurant workers in fact did not know they were going to South Korea this is a serious incident.  However, what we don’t know is what pressure are these workers now under to make these allegations?  Is the Moon administration putting them under intense pressure and allowing the North Koreans to contact them with threats against their families back in North Korea?

Remember these restaurant workers could have easily have made statements to the media that they were kidnapped before Moon became President or even over the past year that he was President, but did not.  This is only coming out now after the charm offensive was launched by North Korea.

Moon Administration Looking Into North Korean Claims that Defectors Were Kidnapped

| May 12, 2018

Remember the 12 North Korean restaurant workers that defected to South Korea that infuriated the Kim regime?  Well it appears the Moon administration may be laying the ground work to send them back:

North Korea runs dozens of restaurants in other countries as a valuable source of income

South Korea says it will look closer into the circumstances surrounding the arrival of a dozen North Korean restaurant workers in 2016 after a television report suggested some of the women might have been brought to the South against their will.

Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun on Friday did not provide a clear answer on whether the women could be sent back to the North if it’s confirmed they didn’t want to come to South Korea.

Seoul had previously said it sufficiently confirmed the women’s free will in escaping from the North and resettling in the South.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but I am not sure what else there is to examine on this issue.  The 12 defectors have been resettled in South Korea and nothing is stopping them from going to a local television station and claim they were kidnapped.  The Kim regime has been using their leftist lawyer allies in South Korea, the group call Minbyun, to claim that the the 12 restaurant workers were kidnapped by the ROK National Intelligence Service (NIS).  Since their defection Minbyun has been making life very hard for the refugees anyway they can.

Now it appears that the Moon administration may be putting pressure on these 12 restaurant workers to return to North Korea as well.  I would not be surprised if the Moon administration is also putting pressure the other high profile defector Thae Yong-ho to keep silent during the Kim regime’s current charm offensive as well.

Kim Jong-un Reportedly Has Sent Nearly A Dozen Assassins to Kill North Korean Defector

| May 6, 2018

This article below sounds like something right out of a South Korean action movie:

It has been reported that a man identified as Mr. Kang (Senior Colonel, late 50s), the head of the Foreign Counter-Espionage office in charge of North-Eastern China for the Ministry of State Security (MSS) fled overseas in February. He is also known for having a connection to Kim Il Sung’s Mother, Kang Pan Sok.
In a conversation with a source in China close to North Korean affairs, it was revealed that “Mr. Kang was residing at the Chilbosan Hotel (now Zhongpu International Hotel) in China, overseeing operations at the foreign counter-espionage office for Russia, China, and Southeast Asia, before he suddenly disappeared on February 25. He was reported to have taken a machine capable of printing American dollars and a lot of foreign currency with him.”
According to the source, Mr. Kang was a significantly important individual, often being called the “Troika” of the Foreign Counter-Espionage Office. He was in charge of directing intelligence and ground operations in Russia and China, and supervised the development of essential talent for North Korea’s nuclear program by covertly arranging exchanges between Russian and Chinese scientists.  (…….)
Accordingly, Kim Jong Un ordered his immediate execution upon hearing news of the defection. “Right after the incident occurred, 7 agents were immediately dispatched with the mission of assassinating Mr. Kang. After returning empty-handed, 3 more agents were sent out,” the source said.
“Despite presently being unable to locate Mr. Kang, the search is still underway. It is presumed that he has gone to France or Great Britain.” Fearing that he will succeed in acquiring asylum in Europe, it appears that North Korea is going to great efforts to kill him before this occurs.  [Daily NK]
You can read much more at the link, but assuming this is all true this is a guy the US needs to find and help defect.