Free Republic

South Korea has decided to strengthen scrutinizing of North Korean asylum-seekers as spies from the communist country are attempting to enter the South pretending to be refugees. "We will conduct tighter screening," said an official at the National Intelligence Service. The move comes after two North Korean agents — both majors in the army's reconnaissance bureau — were arrested in April on charges of attempting to assassinate Hwang Jang-Yop, a high-ranking North Korean defector who has led anti-North campaigns. All North Koreans who entered the South undergo questioning by South Korea's intelligence agency service for up to 90 days. But...

Defector calls N. Korean leader 'bad jerk' not even worth cursing SEOUL, April 22 (Yonhap) -- A high-ranking North Korean defector on Thursday called the communist regime's leader Kim Jong-il a "bad jerk" who is "not even worth cursing" for allegedly sending two spies to assassinate him in South Korea. Hwang Jang-yop said Kim could not have plotted to kill his teacher if he had even an inch of conscience as a human. "I'm a teacher of those who taught Kim Jong-il. If he had a bit of conscience as a human..." Hwang Jang-yop said in a radio program taped...

Senior N.Korean Defector Lives with Constant Threat to His Life The life of Hwang Jang-yop, a former secretary of the North Korean Workers' Party and now head of the Committee for Democratization of North Korea, has been under threat since his defection to South Korea in 1997. Prosecutors on Tuesday said they foiled a plot by two North Korean spies to assassinate him. Because Hwang is the no. 1 target of North Korean terrorist attack, he has been guarded by seven or eight bodyguards at all times. His plans to visit the United States and Japan were kept secret even...

In connection with the breaking news out of South Korea, here is a Korean language map from South Korean daily conservative newspaper Chosun Ilbo, showing the land and air routes the potential assassins (two males; highly trained) took from North Korea under orders from North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, until they were arrested in the South. Will post other breaking news as it comes in. No photographs have emerged yet of the two arrested and or whether weaponry was found on their persons.

2 N. Korean spies arrested in Seoul SEOUL, April 20 (Yonhap) -- Two North Korean spies have been arrested while plotting to murder a high-ranking North Korean defector, the prosecution here said Tuesday. The North Koreans -- only identified by their family names Kim and Tong -- are accused of attempting to assassinate Hwang Jang-yop, a former secretary of the North's ruling Workers' Party and chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly, under the order of the spy agency belonging to the North's Ministry of People's Armed Forces, the Seoul Central District Prosecution said.

December 8, 2009 North Korean leader's 007-style secret escape tunnels revealed by defector Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia Editor The North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, has a network of 300 metre (1,000 ft) deep emergency escape tunnels connecting Pyongyang with key sites around the country, a top-level defector claims. The tunnels, reminiscent of the lair of a James Bond villain, are reported to contain railway lines, a water supply and even vegetation. According to Hwang Jang Yop, formerly North Korea’s chief political philosopher, they connect areas as far as 30 miles (50km) away from Pyongyang, enabling the country’s leaders to...

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-North-Korean-Defector.html October 29, 2003 N. Korea Defector Holds Talks in D.C. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 7:07 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- The highest-ranking defector from North Korea, a man who once mentored leader Kim Jong Il, shared his views of the reclusive regime with senior State Department officials on Wednesday and planned to go public on Capitol Hill. The high-profile visit of Hwang Jang Yop could strain already jumpy relations between the Bush administration and North Korea even as the United States, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan hope to stage another round of six-nation talks about North...

<p>As North Koreans die, South Koreans look the other way.</p> <p>Tuesday, October 28, 2003 12:01 a.m.</p> <p>SEOUL--North Korea's highest-ranking defector arrived safely in Washington yesterday despite North Korea's threat to "shoot his plane out of the sky" if he dared to visit the U.S.</p>

A source familiar with the Korean Peninsula revealed on 27 October that the son of Hwang Chang-yop, former secretary of the Workers Party of Korea, who defected to South Korea, was moved to P'yongyang after breaking his leg in an "accident" in a coal mine, Aoji, in northernmost North Korea. The seriousness of the injury is unknown. On the same day, Hwang arrived in New York to testify before US government officials regarding the Kim Chong-il regime. It is possible that the information was a threat to Hwang by North Korea. Hwang, a former top-ranking official of North Korea, left...

World - AP Asia Defector: Kim Said N. Korea Has Nukes (Kim Jong-il said it in '96) 2 hours, 16 minutes ago By JAE-SUK YOO, Associated Press Writer SEOUL, South Korea - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told aides in 1996 that his country had nuclear weapons, a prominent North Korean defector said Friday. Hwang Jang Yop, who defected to Seoul in 1997, made the remarks as the United States tries to muster international pressure on North Korea (news - web sites) to drop its suspected nuclear program. Washington believes North Korea already has one or two bombs. "I...

N. Korean Defector Tries for U.S. Visit Wed Jun 11, 3:36 AM ET By KENJI HALL, Associated Press Writer SEOUL, South Korea - Six years after fleeing one of the world's most repressive regimes in search of freedom, Hwang Jang Yop remains confined to South Korea (news - web sites). Hwang, the most senior North Korean ever to defect and a former mentor to leader Kim Jong Il, has had little contact with the outside world since he fled to the South in 1997. He rarely appears in public or gives interviews. Under the protective custody of South Korea's spy...