CIA Agent Reveals Intelligence on Kim Jong Il

It’s time for in-depth analysis on some of stories making headlines.
A former U.S. CIA agent, Michael Lee, who was in the service for 24 years, has
shed light on information regarding North Korea by making an appearance on a
South Korean broadcaster, TV Chosun. We have our reporter, Kim Min Soo, to tell
us more about what Mr. Lee had to share from his years of analyzing the
North. 

– Tell us about Michael Lee. What do we know about him?

Kim Min Soo [KIM]: He was born in 1933 in South Korea’s
Buyeo in South Chungcheong Province, and he started working in intelligence in
1958. His first job was at the 502nd Tactical Control Group in the U.S.
military that was stationed in the South and started working for the CIA in the
mid 1970s. Mr. Lee mainly dealt with analyzing North Korean intelligence, and
there were many big incidents that took place during that time. In 1961, he
interrogated Hwang Tae Seong, who was a spy dispatched by North Korean founder
Kim Il Sung, on an urgent mission to meet with former South Korean President
Park Chung Hee. He also questioned Kim Hyon Hui, who was behind the bombing of
a South Korean airliner, and met with film director Shin Sang Ok and his wife,
actress Choi Eun Hee, who were both abducted by North Korea.

– If he was analyzing North Korean intelligence for more
than 20 years, we can only imagine the scope of information he covered. How
about we take a look at one thing at a time, beginning with Kim Jong Il and
personal information that he disclosed about him?
 

KIM: We know a lot about Kim Jong Il through accounts from
his wife’s nephew, Ri Il Nam; the Japanese chef, Kenji Fumjimoto, who cooked
for the leader for 13 years; and high-level North Koreans who have defected to
the South. The information from Mr. Lee doesn’t differ much. He said Kim Jong
Il was a night owl, often working late hours into the night; he drank a lot and
was warned by his doctor that his physical age was ten years older than his
actual age; he was a movie buff, who owned more than 15,000 films from all over
the world; and that he had an affinity for high-speed driving.

– It was mentioned that Kim enjoyed films so much because of
his inferiority complex. What kind of inferiority would that be?

KIM: Michael Lee said he believes Kim Jong Il had a sense of
longing for the world he saw in movies, away from reality, and that he was
trying to receive emotional compensation for his insecurities. To begin with,
he had an inferiority complex about his looks. As Kim Jong Il ascended to
power, North Korea idolized his mother Kim Jong Suk as being this woman with stunning
looks and was a female general who fought against the Japanese military. But in
reality, Kim Jong Suk was said to have been very small lady with a dark
complexion and was called “raven” or “ebony” Jong Suk; in fact, she cooked and
did the laundry at the base for the anti-Japanese partisan fighters. Kim Jong Il
took on more of his mother’s looks than his father’s and for that reason felt
inferior about his appearance. Mr. Lee also said until Kim Jong Suk died, when
Kim Jong Il was eight years old, she was mistreated by Kim Il Sung. He added
Kim’s insecurities about his looks combined with not receiving enough motherly
love may have fueled the brutality he had inside him.

– Michael Lee also said Kim Jong Il blew up Namsan Higher Middle
School, where he graduated from, because of this inferiority complex? Is that
right?

KIM: That is what Mr. Lee said, and that it stemmed from his
insecurities about his step brother, Kim Pyong Il. The two graduated from the
same school, but Pyong Il had much better grades and was more popular, and as a
result he said Kim Jong Il blew up the place to wipe out all of those traces.
But if you look at what other defectors have said, it seems likely that the
school was actually demolished so they could put up a new building for the
party. What is worth noting though, is the fact that Kim Jong Il did purge all
of his childhood friends in the early 70s after he was tapped to be his
father’s successor, as part of the process of his idolization. All of his alumni
disappeared without any trace, and their families were expelled to the
countryside.

– Isn’t it still true that Kim Jong Il did feel inferior to
his step brother?

KIM: It may have been partially from his inferiority
complex, but he did have to keep a close eye on him to make sure he didn’t
succeed his father. Kim Pyong Il is 13 years younger than Kim Jong Il, but he
had his father’s looks and was also very sociable and popular for that reason.
Kim Il Sung also cared a lot for Pyong Il, who was tall and looked much like
him, and saw him as a future general that would lead the Korean People’s Army.
This is why he put him on the course of military studies from a young age. This
would have made Kim Jong Il jealous of his brother and also worried that his
father would favor his younger brother. Later on, Kim Jong Il politically
ostracized Pyong Il, and his other half siblings, Yong Il and Kyong Jin, born
from his step mother Kim Sung Ae. This all comes from his inferiority complex
and extreme thirst for power.

– Moving on from Kim Jong Il, Michael Lee said the Al-Qaeda
terrorists from the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S. had connections to North
Korea? Can you tell us more about that?

KIM: According to Mr. Lee, Al-Qaeda members underwent
training shortly before the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 at secret training grounds
provided by North Korea’s military. This intelligence, he said, came from a
defector who had heard a high-ranking official from the North’s Operation
Department who also added “Osama bin Laden had close ties with senior officials
in the Workers’ Party operational division.” Mr. Lee added that Pyongyang runs
a total of 30 covert training grounds for foreign terrorists; fifteen are in
Pyongyang’s Samseok district, and 15 are in the county of Gangdong in South
Pyongan Province. Here, militants from Iran, Palestine and other international
terrorist groups have received training.

– There was also speculation that Al-Qaeda had plotted a
terror attack against South Korea with the backing of Pyongyang, right?

KIM: Yes. TV Chosun reported that Al-Qaeda had planned an
attack similar to that of Sept. 11 around that same period in 2001 to hijack a
U.S. aircraft and crash it into a joint military base here in South Korea. The
attack was called off, but this was actually not even the first time an attack
on the South had been plotted. Mr. Lee revealed that back in 1995, Al-Qaeda had
tried to orchestrate the “Bonjinka plot,” which sought to blow up 12 aircrafts,
some which were to be American airliners hijacked from Gimpo International
Airport. The plan though was uncovered and foiled before it could take place.
The former agent said Pyongyang and Muslim extremists share a common agenda of
being against the U.S., and so they have maintained strong ties since the days
of Kim Il Sung. 

– Michael Lee will be publishing a book based on information
declassified by the CIA in the near future, and it looks like there will be a
lot of interesting stories included. We will keep you updated on that front.
That was reporter Kim Min Soo joining us today. Thank you.