Investigations are continuing into another 40 people implicated in the ‘Wangjaesan’ spy scandal, prosecutors revealed on Thursday. However, while the case has the potential to reveal the scale of underground organizations operating within South Korea on orders from North Korea, given the fact that such operations tend to be run as cells, there is likely also to be a limit.
A source close to South Korean intelligence told The Daily NK on Friday, “What the investigation into these 40 people means is that they will all eventually face prosecution. The number of people receiving orders from the North aligned with the 40 suspects will be even higher given the fact that this is a cell operation.”
However, he also cautioned that a considerable number of the 40 people may be unaware that they are involved with a spy group.
The official continued, “It is understood that at the start of 1990s North Korea was sending orders to its spy network within South Korea of about 102 agents. The Wangjaesan case is just an extension of this.”
“Police have been piecing together the evidence for a few years now, and the recent arrest and indictment follows a painstaking investigation into the ringleader, Kim Deok Yong, among others,” he went on.
It is believed that the decisive evidence in the arrest of Kim Deok Yong and the other four was the reception of encrypted orders and the discovery of medals of honor and national stars from North Korea.
Kim Young Hwan, previously the head of Minhyukdang, an extreme leftist political organization active in the 1980s and 90s, believes more people are likely to appear.
However, Kim says he does not believe the group is at the centre of an underground espionage syndicate within South Korea. “When you look at the pasts of the arrested men, they don’t have deep connections or a lot of influence in any activist groups,” Kim pointed out.
Instead, there have been concerns expressed that loyal supporters of Ha Young Ok, who opposed the dissolution of Minhyukdang, could actually be more dangerous than those involved with Wangjaesan. Minhyukdang was disbanded in 1997 by Kim Young Hwan.
A current colleague of Kim, Zeitgeist director Choi Hong Jae speculated on Friday, “Minhyukdang loyalists may have already tried to reestablish the group in areas formerly controlled by its most staunch defender, Ha Young Ok, including Yongnam and southern Gyeonggi.”
“Since Ha’s arrest his underlings have gone into hiding, but it’s possible that they saw the Democratic Labor Party as their group’s chance to reemerge,” Choi added.
