A Korean-Chinese, Mr. Choi, who has been arrested and imprisoned by the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency, South Korea on suspicion of kidnapping South Koreans who assisted North Korean defectors in China, and subsequently sending them to North Korea. It is suspected that Mr. Choi belongs to a kidnapping unit under the direction of the head of the Conspiracy Research Office of the North Korean National Security Agency in North Hamkyung Province, Yoon Chang Ju. Additionally, the kidnapping unit is said to still be active in several Chinese cities near the North Korea-China border.
The security investigation section of the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency revealed on the 24th, “Mr. Choi was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping defectors in China and sending them forcefully to North Korea.”
According to the police, Mr. Choi is suspected to have abducted a defector, Im, along with five family members from Antu-xian, Jilin, in China, and subsequently delivered them to North Korea in April, 1999.
An official from the Gyeonggi Police Agency revealed to the Daily NK on Monday, “Although I cannot unfold the name of the North’s manager of the kidnapping unit due to the relations with the North, I am sure that this case is closely related to the case of another Korean Chinese, Yoo Young Hwa.”
The South’s judicial authorities arrested Yoo Young Hwa in January, 2005 for his suspected involvement in the kidnapping of pastor Kim Dong Shik, 15 defectors and a Korean Chinese and delivering them to the North’s authorities, a direct violation of the South’s National Security Law.
Kim Young Jin (pseudonym), who formerly served in a kidnapping unit, under the direction of the North’s NSA, defected to South Korea in 2003. Mr. Kim revealed the names of his unit’s members during a telephone interview with the Daily NK on the same day, saying that, “They are still working in Yanji and in its vicinity.”
Kim Young Jin himself testified that he was involved in kidnapping case of Pastor Kim Dong Shik, who had helped defectors in Yanji (in January, 2000), China, POWs Choi Sang Soo and Choi Seong Il and POWs’ family members, including Kim Geum Sung, Lee Kyung Mu, Park Jong Ho and Lee Seol Hwa, defectors Kim Il Tae and Choi Kyung Hee and others.
He explained that, “The ring masters of the Pastor Kim’s case were Yoon Chang Ju, the head of the Conspiracy Research Office of the NSA, and Ji Young Su, the head of the NSA allocated to the Hoiryeong Goksan Factory, in which produces cigarettes to distribute to soldiers.”
According to Mr. Kim, other unit members include, Park Guen Chun (47 years old), who used be a manager of the materials division of the Goksan Factory and now lives in Chongjin, North Hamkyung Province, Kim Song San (44 years old), who used be a manager of the Construction Materials Division of the No. 35th Chemical Factory in Hoiryeong and now is imprisoned in Yanji, China for drug smuggling and Yoon Hwa Ryong (46 years old) who deals in the trade of antiquities.
Mr. Kim continued to explain that, “They have repatriated countless defectors in China to the North and been rewarded with antiques and drugs, then they sell them for funds of their activities and others.”
Vice-President of the Committee for Democratization of North Korea Kang Cheol Hwan said, “The nature of North Korea’s NSA will not change to threaten defectors and South Korean supporters for them in border areas in China. The two American journalists’ case was a part of their activities.”
