Spy Ring Uncovered in South Korea: Linked to Anti-US Movement

A North Korean spy ring has been uncovered in South Korea and it’s members are really not surprising:

Authorities are holding a U.S. citizen, Michael Chang (44), who they say was trained as a spy in North Korea between 1989 and 1993, became a member of the ruling Korean Workers Party, pledged allegiance to the party, and spied for the North for 10 years. The National Intelligence Service and prosecutors on Thursday also alleged that a former member of the minor opposition Democratic Labor Party’s central committee, Lee Jung-hun (42), and businessman Sohn Jung-mok (42) were persuaded by Chang to join him in spying for the North and until recently provided classified information to North Korean agents.

The Seoul Central District Court issued arrest warrants for the three former student activists on Thursday. The NIS is expanding its investigation and also arrested the vice DLP secretary general Choi Ki-young and another former student activist identified as Lee (42) the same day.

By using the DLP’s political organization and cover, the spy ring’s tentacles stretched throughout just about every anti-US movement in Korea including the Camp Humphreys protests:

The DPL vice secretary general has reportedly taken a leading role in pro-North Korean activities. He played a key part in organizing protests against the move of U.S. Forces Korea headquarters to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province and was also involved in demonstrations condemning the government’s support for the UN resolution sanctioning North Korea in the wake of its nuclear test. Party sources said Choi showed more interest in issues like the abolition of the National Security Law and anti-American protests in Pyeongtaek than questions of public welfare. He also participated in candle light vigils over the killing of two middle school girls by a U.S. Army vehicle some years ago.

Lee Jung-hun also leaned toward a pro-North Korean ideology of national liberation when he was a member of the DLP’s central committee. National liberation, along with proletarian democracy, was one of the two major ideological strands among student activists in the 1980s. Since former student activists of the national liberation faction reportedly took a more active part in protests against free trade talks with the U.S. and the move of the USFK base, there is speculation linking the espionage scandal to the organized anti-American movement.

The spy ring has also been linked to the USFK environmental issue and even to trying to influence the election for the mayor of Seoul. Here is a report from One Free Korea:

A new report, not yet available in English, claims that North Korea used the Fifth Columnists of the “Il Shim Hue” to help the ruling leftist Uri Party in local elections last May. The report, based on leaks from South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, claims that North Korea used Il Shim Hue (rough translation: The One-Minded Hundred) to direct the Democratic Labor Party throw its votes and support to the Uri Party to prevent the GNP candidate, Oh Se Hoon, from winning. Oh won, defeating Uri Justice Minister Kang Kum-Sil.

North Korea also directed Il Shim Hue to assemble detailed dossiers on South Korean politics: politicians, civic groups, issues, parties, you name it. One particular issue that concerned them was how South Koreans reacted to North Korea’s recent nuke test. The NIS claims that Il Shim Hue members canvassed popular sentiment about the test throughout South Korean society. Recent polls show a substantial minority (but thankfully, still a minority) blamed America for North Korea’s nuke test, something the ruling party eagerly latched onto.

Another huge shocker: North Korea had plans to infiltrate environmental groups to use them to inspire more anti-American sentiment. You may recall the recent South Korean film, The Host, a monster flick loosely based on a 2000 incident in which a civilian mortician on a U.S. Army post dumped a small amount of highly dilute formaldeyde into the Han River. The incident became a huge story in the South, and The Host inspired some icky and unhinged anti-American comments from one ruling party legislator, which neither the legislator nor his party have retracted, to my knowledge.

I and other K-bloggers have long chronicled the anti-US hate groups activities in Korea so really none of this is surprising to me. You can read more about my postings on the Camp Humphreys relocation issue here and the USFK pollution issue here.

The anti-US hate groups have been doing everything possible to stop the USFK relocation because the North Korean puppet masters did not want the US forces along the DMZ and in Seoul to be relocated further south on the peninsula and outside of North Korean artillery range. So they turned to their “activist” groups in the south to stop the relocation by playing towards Korean pride and trying to portray USFK as bullies because of the relocating of farmers to expand the base. The vast majority of the farmers took the compensation money and moved but the anti-US hate groups latched on to a handful of farmers as cover to launch their violent attacks on Camp Humphreys and have delayed the relocation. Here are the “activists” in action:

The pollution issue is the second front in stopping the USFK relocation. These “activists” claimed that the vacated Second Infantry Division bases were heavily polluted and were a danger to the civilian population if USFK did not pay to clean the bases up. The estimated costs to clean the bases by the “activists” was a completely unrealistic number they knew USFK would never pay. For those who have never served in Korea, the USFK camps are literally an oasis of green in the middle of dense urban cities. The camps after the Korean war were located on the outskirts of Korean cities but the camps have now been swallowed up by the growing cities which are a sign of Korea’s amazing development since the war. It is partly because of this development that USFK wants to relocate the camps to the sparsely populated Camp Humphreys area. If anything the USFK camps are the cleanest piece of land in the surrounding communities and some have been designated to become parks when handed over; yet the anti-US hate groups have successfully used this issue to further delay the USFK relocation.
However, none of this is anything new. Even before the USFK relocation issue surfaced the anti-US hate groups jumped on other anti-US issues in order to create a wedge between the US and the general South Korean population to great success. In fact this spy scandal has to be the worst kept secret in South Korea. The real scandal is why didn’t the ruling government do anything about it a long time ago? How high up the political ladder does this spy ring extend? The police do allegedly have a list of more possible spies that they intend to investigate:

However, the progressive party cannot but concern the aftermath, as its several leaders are scheduled to visit Pyongyang next Tuesday. DLP spokesman Park Yong-jin said the visit plan would not change, but some political watchers say they wouldn’t rule out the possibility that the visit would be cancelled.

Politicians of the 386 generation are also keeping a close eye on the case, as the prosecution secured a list of some 386 generation figure names at Chang’s house.

The 386 generation refers to those who were born in the 1960s and participated in pro-democracy struggles in the 1980s, and many of them are regarded as core members of the Roh administration.

Chang’s list had six figures names, including Choi. Four figures among the five arrested are also in the 386 generation, all except Chang. Because he is acquainted with many other members of the 386 generation, the case may develop into the largest spy scandal since 1997.

How far is the Korean government going to allow investigators to dig? This may just be the tip of the iceberg.

More from One Free Korea here.