By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter


Government officials on Thursday rebuffed a news report that claimed a North Korean defector, identified by his surname Lee, engaged in espionage in South Korea.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS), which initially investigated suspicions of Lee’s spying, said in a press release that he didn’t conduct any intelligence-gathering activities in South Korea.

The media report, which prompted anti-communist sentiment among conservatives in the South, came as the ruling Uri Party is trying to scrap the anti-communist National Security Law.

The anti-espionage agency in Seoul, however, acknowledged that Lee got training as spy in the North after being caught by North Korean border guards in April this year when he returned to the Stalinist country via China to bring back his brothers to South Korea.

The 28-year-old defector entered the South Korean consulate in Beijing in November 2002 and arrived in Seoul via a third country in January 2003. He married another defector and currently resides in Taejon, South Korea.

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said at a meeting with reporters that the news article in JoongAng Ilbo, one of three conservative newspapers with large circulation, has some factual errors.

``Lee confessed his secret re-entry into North Korea and is currently under investigation by the South Korean authorities without detention,’’ Chung said.

In August, the NSC forwarded Lee’s case to the prosecution, which currently plans to indict him early next year for violation of the National Security Law. The law prohibits South Koreans from meeting or corresponding with pro-Pyongyang sources.

Chung said the Seoul government is aware of other defectors in South Korea illegally re-entering the communist country to meet their family members.

``There are many cases of defectors slipping into North Korea,’’ he said. ``Some of them received punishment and others are under surveillance by the South Korean government.’’

Around 70 percent of defectors who requested trips to foreign countries choose China as their destination with the aim of meeting their families, according to ministry statistics. ``As of now, around 40 defectors are staying in foreign countries with expired passports,’’ Chung said.

Defectors living in the South who go back to the North to visit family members sometimes trigger a chain of defections organized by brokers or human rights activists.

``We oppose this kind of `defection project’ that might affect the North Korean regime,’’ Chung said. ``Bringing North Koreans out of their country does not match with our North Korea policies.’’

He said the government was considering imposing limitations on defectors’ overseas trips. ``But the government has not been able to make a final decision due to the complicated situation,’’ he said, referring to related human rights issues.

The NIS said Lee crossed the Yalu river to smuggle himself into North Korea in April, aiming to meet his parents and bring his brothers back to South Korea with him.

``He was caught by North Korean border guards,’’ a Unification Ministry official said, requesting anonymity. ``It might be true that he got secret training to perform spying activities. But he surrendered himself to the authorities on June 11 after entering South Korea through Inchon seaport on May 19. He denied any suspicions of espionage.’’

Formerly a staff sergeant for the North’s border guard unit in North Hamkyong Province, Lee defected to China in June 1997 to earn money for his family back in North Korea, according to officials.

But he was caught by Chinese police in July 1999 and repatriated to the North. The Pyongyang government, however, sent him back to China in February 2000 and ordered him to gather information on the situation of defectors in China.

A similar case occurred when Yu Tae-jun, who defected to the South in November 1998, infiltrated the North two years later to bring his wife back with him. He was caught by the North and forced to work for the Pyongyang regime as a propaganda broadcaster. But he defected once again to the South in November 2002. Yu was sentenced to a six-month prison term due to his violation of the inter-Korean cooperation law.

More than 6,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the Korean War ended in 1953, including some 1,500 so far this year alone.

im@koreatimes.co.kr