Prosecutors have requested 15-year jail terms for Kim Myung Ho and Dong Myung Kwan, the two men accused of entering South Korea disguised as defectors in order to assassinate former Chosun Workers’ Party secretary Hwang Jang Yop.
They were dispatched by the director of the General Bureau of Reconnaissance, Kim Young Cheol, in November last year, arriving in the South in January.
At the trial on the 23rd, the prosecution stated, “The case of an attempt to assassinate Hwang Jang Yop is itself an obvious invasion of the South Korean system. Therefore, it is a crime worthy of capital punishment or life imprisonment.”
However, the prosecutor revealed why he had requested just 15-year sentences; because the two men’s attempt to assassinate Hwang failed and they subsequently cooperated with the investigation.
He added, “If Hwang Jang Yop, who escaped from the socialist system of North Korea into the free and democratic South Korea, had been injured or killed, it would have gone down as a humiliating case for South Korea.”
Under interrogation, Kim admitted to being a General Bureau of Reconnaissance espionage agent ordered by the North to assassinate Hwang after residing in the South as a defector.
The other agent, Dong, who disguised himself as Hwang’s relative, said he received orders to join the Association of North Korean Defectors, of which Hwang Jang Yop is honorable president, and find ways to approach Hwang.
When they were asked for their final statements, Kim said, “I want to live diligently in the South Korean system” and Dong said nothing.
The sentences will be handed down on July 1.
