May 31, 2019 13:12
The shadowy anti-North Korean guerrilla group Free Joseon on Thursday called for one of its leaders to be freed from U.S. custody.
Christopher Ahn and fellow Free Joseon leader Adrian Hong Chang were behind a daredevil raid on the North Korean Embassy in Madrid in February but have since got on the wrong side of U.S. authorities after an apparent falling-out with the FBI.
Hong has gone to ground, but Ahn was arrested on an international warrant from Spain.
"We call for Christopher Ahn to be freed and the pursuit of Adrian Hong to end!" Free Joseon wrote on its website alongside a picture of Ahn with Kim Han-sol, the nephew of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Free Joseon spirited Han-sol to safety with the aid of the U.S., Chinese and Dutch authorities after his father, the North Korean leader's half-brother Kim Jong-nam, was assassinated by North Korean agents in Kuala Lumpur.
This photo was earlier published in the international press, but there were questions about its authenticity. "In February of 2017, the Provisional Government of Free Joseon (formerly Cheollima Civil Defense) received an emergency request by Kim Han-sol immediately after the assassination of his father, Kim Jong-nam," the group says on its website.
"The Provisional Government of Free Joseon successfully completed a mission to rescue Kim Han-sol, his mother and his sister from immediate and critical danger to safety."
It calls Hong and Ahn "true heroes who took great risks and have made many other personal sacrifices for many years to help and rescue those not blessed with freedom." It claims the group has never received any funding from foreign governments.
Kim Han-sol is "not and never was a leader in our government," it adds. Although he is "a fine and good young man... we do not believe in hereditary leadership based on bloodline. Anyone with good intentions is welcome as a member of the Provisional Government of Free Joseon."
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