According to the Associated Press via the Straits Times:
A South Korean man has been arrested for allegedly spying for Pyongyang and working with its military to kidnap activists who helped North Koreans defect, officials said on Monday.
The 55-year-old man, who was arrested last week and who denies the charges, is accused of taking up the spy job after meeting a female North Korean agent in 1999 in China’s eastern Shandong province, where he was believed to be engaged in drug trafficking, the official said on condition of anonymity because an investigation was ongoing.
The man, surnamed Kim, allegedly traveled to Pyongyang in 2000 for 15 days of spy training and received US$10,000 (S$13,904) and 2 kilograms of narcotics from the North, the official said.
The suspect was sent back to China and started abducting South Korean activists who were helping North Koreans defect from their impoverished, authoritarian homeland. The kidnapped Koreans were sent to the North in cooperation with the female agent, the official said.
The man also kidnapped North Korean defectors hiding in China and forced them back to the North. He also tried to gather information on South Korean intelligence officers operating in Chinese towns near North Korea, the official said.
Prosecution spokesman Oh Se-in confirmed the man’s arrest, saying he allegedly violated the National Security Law, which carries the death penalty as a maximum sentence. The suspect denied the charges, Mr Oh said.
Read the full story here:
S Korean held for spying
Straits Times (AP)
4/12/2010
