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The National Intelligence Service (NIS) revealed Thursday the history of a North Korean spy who had posed as a defector in China and the South and is currently being detained without bail by local authorities.
The tumultuous life of the 28-year-old, identified as Lee, involved a labrynthine tale of border crossings, confessions, forced repatriation and conscripted espionage after an initial attempt to defect to China in 1997 ended in capture.
Chinese police repatriated the former soldier in North Korea's border guard after his failed bid to make a dash for freedom. Instead of being punished by the Stalinist regime, however, he was converted into a spy and informed to report on the movement of defectors in China.
As his missions grew increasingly fraught with danger over the next two years, he eventually sought asylum in the South Korean consulate in Beijing and made his way to the South.
During investigations by the relevant authorities here, Lee confessed to everything, including his past as a North Korean agent.
Lee made his living from manual labor in the South. In April, he was again beset by problems during an attempt to reconcile with his brother after sneaking over the North Korea-China border. Northern interrogaters soon discovered his identity and questioned him on the settlement facilities for defectors in South Korea. In what was fast becoming an emerging pattern, he confessed everything.
North Korea retrained Lee as a spy. After returning to Seoul, he reported his movements to the North Korea liaison office in China, before turning himself in to South Korean authorities. Lee is now being held without detention on charges of violating the National Security Law.
In response to his case, one government official said, "There are a fair number of defectors who sneak back into North Korea to meet family members." The NIS is known to be concerned that some of these individuals may have been trained as spies, in similar circumstances as Lee's case.
Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said, "There has been a rapid rise in overseas travel by defectors, with 70 percent of them going to China... Of the defectors currently residing overseas, 40 have either broken contact or overstayed their agreed travel period."
Northern defectors' murky movements have left many questions unanswered for local intelligence agencies.
Defector Ji Man-gil, who went missing in the area along the Yalu River in April of last year, was known to have moved in and out of North Korea several times. Compatriot Yu Tae-jun went back to North Korea in 2000 in order to bring his wife to the South, while yet another defector, Nam Su, re-entered North Korea, gave speeches condemning defectors, re-escaped then turned himself in at a South Korea legation.
Yu received a six-month prison sentence, while Nam received four years.
(Kim In-gu, ginko@chosun.com )
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