Suspect indicted for allegedly meeting with DPRK agent multiple times and spying for Pyongyang over more than a decade
South Korean authorities have indicted an activist for allegedly taking instructions from a North Korean agent and spying for Pyongyang while running for local office, according to a ruling party lawmaker.
People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker Yoo Sang-beom, a member of the National Assembly’s intelligence committee, stated on social media on Saturday that the activist is a member of a party that has had a seat in South Korea’s parliament and ran to be a provincial governor.
The activist from North Jeolla Province allegedly met with a North Korean agent several times and even received detailed instructions for winning the local election, Yoo wrote, citing an indictment provided to the intelligence committee.
The activist was allegedly in contact with the North Korean agent for over a decade from 2007 to 2019, according to a Hankook Ilbo report that Yoon refers to. The article states that the South Korean activist communicated with the agent through email and face-to-face in China and Vietnam, and that the North Korean agent traveled to the South fifteen times on a fake Chinese passport.
Yoo stated that the activist is charged with violating South Korea’s National Security Act but did not mention which prosecutor handled his indictment. His office did not respond to an NK News request for comment.
The activist’s indictment comes as South Korean authorities have been cracking down hard on alleged North Korean espionage in recent months.
The first of a series of related raids started in November last year, when the National Intelligence Agency searchedthe house of an activist on Jeju Island. Then in January, the NIS told South Korean lawmakers that the raid was part of a yearslong investigation into a nationwide network of progressive groups that had allegedly formed pro-DPRK spy cells and/or been in contact with North Korean authorities.
At the time, PPP lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo said one spy cell on Jeju used encryption to communicate with North Korean agents and that another group had operated in the southern city of Changwon, pointing out the large number of defense industry firms in the area.
The espionage investigations again became headline news when the NIS and police raided the offices of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the country’s largest union, on Jan. 18.
