Tag: embassy

Jayu Joseon Group Stole Computers and Cell Phones from North Korean Embassy

| March 22, 2019

Here is the latest article on the North Korean embassy heist in Spain:

The 10 men in dark suits who raided the North Korean embassy in Madrid last month had one goal in mind, it would seem: to overthrow the regime of Kim Jong Un.
Although the scene of the Feb. 22 crime in Spain was many thousands of miles from the DMZ, analysts view the 10 involved as the cutting edge of a North Korean dissident group that’s now named Jayu Joseon, “Free [North] Korea.” It allegedly has the backing of some wealthy Koreans and foreigners as well as ties inside the North—apparently the first organization to have set up an operational challenge to the leadership in Pyongyang.

The immediate purpose of the break-in was to seize computers and cellphones on which intelligence analysts could find top-secret message traffic to the former North Korean ambassador to Spain, Kim Hyok Chol. 
He was expelled by Madrid in September 2017 after the United Nations imposed new sanctions on the North for its nuclear and missile tests. But at the time of the raid last month he had a much more sensitive position: Pyongyang’s envoy to the nuclear talks with Washington and Seoul. (……)

The Madrid 10 are assumed to have transferred the computers and mobile phones to a foreign intelligence agency. An auction to the highest bidder would not be unprecedented in such matters, but most of the suspicion is focused on the CIA, which, if it could access the encrypted material in time, could have found information potentially useful for the Hanoi summit and afterward.

“We can be 99.9 percent sure that Cheollima [Jayu Joseon] carried out the raid,” says Lee Sung-yoon, professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. “They had all the incentive.”
As noted, Ambassador Kim Hyok Chol, after his expulsion, emerged as the North’s chief negotiator in the very difficult pre-summit dialogue with the U.S. envoy on North Korea, Stephen Biegun, and some of the message traffic since his departure from Spain was presumed to concern those talks. The messages may have kept on coming for some time through the embassy in Spain even though he would see them elsewhere. Or at least that may have been the assumption of the Madrid 10.

The Daily Beast

You can read much more at the link.

United States Embassy Coming to Pyongyang?

| April 13, 2018

That is what is being floated as a possible reward for denuclearization:

What would the United States give North Korea in return for denuclearization?

The Trump administration is now detailing a compensation package for the Kim Jong-un regime that would significantly boost economic and diplomatic sectors, the Dong-A Ilbo daily reported on Thursday, citing government sources.

The newspaper said if the Trump-Kim summit is a success, the U.S. is willing to open a liaison office and an embassy in Pyongyang, and start humanitarian aid.

The two countries discussed the issues during working-level talks, the paper said.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s top national security adviser is visiting Washington to meet his U.S. counterpart John Bolton, the White House said.  [Korea Times via a reader tip]

Illegally Imported Luxury Car and Other Smuggling Activities Leads to Expulsion of North Korean Diplomat in Bangladesh

| January 11, 2017

Here is another example of how North Korea is really a “Soprano State” and why every country should be hesitant to have a DPRK embassy in their country:

Bangladesh authorities have seized a luxury Rolls-Royce Ghost car illegally brought into the country for a former North Korean diplomat expelled for smuggling.

Customs intelligence chief Moinul Khan said Han Son Ik intended to bring in the car without paying duty due to his diplomatic status and sell it on to a local buyer. Officials said the luxury car would have been liable for import duties of more than 800 percent had it been brought in legally.

Han was first secretary of the North Korean embassy in Dhaka until he was expelled in August after being accused of smuggling more than a million cigarettes as well as electronics worth half a million dollars.

“We had intelligence that Han made a deal with a local buyer to bring the person a Rolls-Royce with Han’s diplomatic immunity, therefore he attempted to evade customs tax,” Khan told AFP. “Han has been marked as a frequent offender.” AFP was unable to contact the North Korean embassy for comment.

In March 2015 a North Korean diplomat was forced to apologise after he was caught at Dhaka airport trying to smuggle nearly 27 kilograms (60 pounds) of gold worth $1.7 million into the country. A North Korean restaurant in Dhaka was shut down the same year after officials found it was selling wine and drugs such as Viagra without permission.  [The Indian Express]

One Free Korea makes a great recommendation in this Tweet: