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The National Intelligence Service and prosecutors applied for arrest warrants for three former students activists including former Democratic Labor Party leader Lee Jung-hoon (42) on charges of contact with North Korean agents. The NIS reportedly raided the homes and offices of the three and obtained evidence including computer discs and photos to support the allegation. The agency is looking at whether they spied for the North after receiving an order from North Korean agents in China.
Lee was a leader of Sammint'u, or the Struggle Committee for Liberation of the Masses, Attainment of Democracy and Unification of the Nation, and was sentenced to prison for leading the three-day seizure of the U.S. Information Service building in Seoul in May 1985. He is charged with meeting a North Korean agent in China in March to receive instructions this year.
The NIS suspects one of the three, identified as Jang, visited the North without government permission several years ago and is investigating what he was doing there. The agency believes more ex-student activists are involved in the case. ¡°We are still investigating them and this could evolve into a large-scale espionage case,¡± an NIS official said. Democratic Labor Party spokesman Park Yong-jin declined to comment on a case still under investigation. ¡°As far as we know, the case is not directly related with our activities,¡± he added.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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