Free Republic

/begin my excerpts Picketing N. Korean Defector Bumping Face-to-Face into N. Korean Ambassador Ma Young-ae, N. Korean defector and artist, now residing in U.S. and heading (Christian) N. Korean Refugee Mission, was picketing with Choi Eun-chol, the (mission's) administrative manager, in front of N. Korea's Mission at U.N.. They were urging the International Criminal Court to indict Kim Jong-il, when they met face-to-face with (N. Korean) Ambassador (to U.N.) Shin Sun-ho. When she confronted him, he and his assistant gave her a brief look and headed for U.N. Headquarter. She followed them, with a new sign board saying, "Kim Jong-il,...

North Korean Defectors Puzzled, Moved by Roh Funeral By Kurt Achin Seoul 29 May 2009 South Korea's emotional farewell to former President Roh Moo-hyun brought much of the country together - including Koreans who were not born in the South. For North Koreans who have defected to South Korea, the outpouring of public emotion brought back memories of an earlier life - and reminders of how different their new life is. North Koreans who have begun a new life in the South were alongside their fellow Koreans in Friday's tearful mass gathering in Seoul. About 15,000 North Koreans now live...

N.Korea's Kim too selfish to start war -defectors Thu May 28, 2009 2:20am EDT (For full coverage of the North Korean crisis, click [nN25330519]) By Jack Kim ANSEONG, South Korea, May 28 (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is likely basking in the patriotic fervour whipped up by his nuclear test but is too worried about his own well-being to start a war, North Korean defectors said on Thursday. Poverty, famine and political oppression have driven tens of thousands of North Koreans over the border to seek a better life. "Why did they have to do it again? If...

North Korean Painter Brushes Away Taboos About Kim Jong Il By Kurt Achin Seoul 16 April 2009 North Korea's recent rocket launch and its reappointment of Kim Jong Il as military chief are reminders to the world of the North Korean leader's potential ability to threaten regional security. But one North Korean refugee is giving the world a look at Kim Jong Il in a much less austere light. The face of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il - not waving at the masses from a balcony, but lying on his back in a hospital bed. "Kim Jong Il is...

N. Korean Defectors Bewildered By the South By Blaine Harden Washington Post Foreign Service Sunday, April 12, 2009; A01 ANSEONG, South Korea -- To flee North Korea and arrive in the rich, wired, consuming culture of South Korea is to feel clueless, fearful and guilty. Teenagers are particularly bewildered. As part of the newest wave in a decade-old flow of defectors from the North, they arrive stunted from malnutrition and struggling to read. At the movies for the first time, they panic when the lights go down, afraid someone might kidnap them. They find it incredible that money is stored...

As a former Eastern European who spent 22 years of his life behind the Iron Curtain, my own perception of people's vigilance in the western countries for the security of their freedom, and most of all to safeguard their Catholic Apostolic Faith from the influence of, and possible destruction done by, the atheistic communism, is somewhat blinded by a clearly erroneous belief that people who lived in freedom all their lives want to continue living in it, and will not allow anything so criminal, hideous and ultimately satanic as communism is, to enter their society and take it over, and...

UPDATE: Father of man in Bonaire murder-suicide defected with MiG in Korean War By Gene Rector - grector@macon.com September 21 was already a monumental day in the life of Ken Rowe. The first one, in 1953, was a happy - even glorious - occasion. The second is devastating. Fifty-five years ago, Rowe - then known as North Korean Lt. No Kum-Sok - flew a Russian-made MIG 15 to Kimpo Air Base in South Korea, defecting from his Communist homeland and delivering a treasure trove of intelligence data to the U.S. and its allies. Just three days ago, also on Sept...

N.Korean Spy Who Posed as Defector Busted AUGUST 28, 2008 08:41 Authorities said yesterday that they apprehended a North Korean spy disguised as a defector. Won Jeong-hwa was caught while handing over military intelligence to the North. Her boyfriend, a South Korean Army captain, was also indicted for failing to report her despite knowing she was working for the North. A joint investigation team grilled Won’s stepfather “Kim,” who supervised and funded her espionage activities and delivered stolen information to North Korean agents in China. The North trained Won as a spy in December 1998 and she searched for and...

One of the things that both Dem campaigns are always nervous about is defectors. In particular, Clinton is more vulnerable to this problem since she's the candidate that is trailing. Well, NBC News has learned that a major fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, former Amb. to Chile Gabriel Guerra-Mondragon is leaving the campaign to join up Barack Obama's campaign. Officially dubbed a "Hillraiser," Guerra-Mondragon raised nearly $500,000 for Clinton's campaign, according to some estimates. He has been informing people inside Clintonworld this week in what's been described as some tough conversations. A formal announcement of a role for Guerra-Mondragon on Obama's...

N. Korean defectors testify before British opposition party leader By Sohn Suk-joo SEOUL, June 20 (Yonhap) -- Two North Korean defectors Tuesday testified before the British parliament about the life in North Korean gulags, Christian group officials said Wednesday. Having spoken at a meeting of the All-Party British-North Korea Parliamentary Group in the Moses Room of the Houses of Parliament in London, Ahn Myeong-Cheol and Shin Dong-Hyok, both now settled in South Korea, also met with David Cameron, leader of Britain's opposition Conservative Party, they said. The meeting came after Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), the organizer of the event, issued...

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HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. — China the cat got her name after being delivered in a crate holding motorcycle gear that a North Carolina man had ordered to be shipped from Shanghai. Eric Congdon opened the cargo freight that left port in China on April 3 and found the furry stowaway, which had chewed through one of the boxes. After at least 35 days on a ship, the cat was weak but still alive.

Mossad implicated in missing defector mystery By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem Last Updated: 1:43am GMT 09/03/2007 An Iranian former spy chief is being debriefed by Western intelligence officials after defecting, sources claimed yesterday. Speaking to The Washington Post, the sources said Ali Reza Azkari, 63, turned himself over to foreign spy agencies and was providing intelligence about Iran's close links with Hizbollah, the Shia militia from Lebanon. One of the sources said Mossad, the Israeli foreign intelligence agency which is known to have extensive contacts in Iran, coordinated his defection although there was no official confirmation from the Jewish State....

A former Iranian deputy defense minister who once commanded the Revolutionary Guard has left his country and is cooperating with Western intelligence agencies, providing information on Hezbollah and Iran's ties to the organization, according to a senior U.S. official. Ali Rez Asgari disappeared last month during a visit to Turkey. Iranian officials suggested yesterday that he may have been kidnapped by Israel or the United States. The U.S. official said Asgari is willingly cooperating. He did not divulge Asgari's whereabouts or specify who is questioning him, but made clear that the information Asgari is offering is fully available to U.S....

10,000th defector arrives on Kim Jong-il’s birthday February 17, 2007 A ceremony marking the 65th birthday of Kim Jong-il was held Thursday evening in Pyongyang in front of a flag of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party. [AP] The total number of North Koreans who defected to the South climbed above 10,000 yesterday with the arrival of the latest group of 10 defectors, the Ministry of Unification said. The defectors who arrived yesterday morning brought the figure to 10,006, the ministry said. Only 607 North Koreas had escaped their communist homeland and arrived in South between the Korean War and...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Army deserter who defected to North Korea in 1962 said a billion dollars could not entice him to leave the isolated communist country that is locked in a nuclear standoff with the United States. Joe Dresnok, the last American defector still living in North Korea, broke 44 years of silence since he slipped across South Korea's heavily mined border to begin a new life that included appearances in anti-American propaganda films. "I don't have intentions of leaving, could give a s*** if you put a billion damn dollars of gold on the table," Dresnok said...

Friend of poisoned Russian ex-spy accuses Kremlin 20 Nov 2006 13:03:52 GMT Source: Reuters By Kate Kelland LONDON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - A former Russian spy fighting for his life in a London hospital after being poisoned with a highly toxic chemical was the target of a Kremlin-backed plot, a close friend said on Monday, in a claim Moscow called "nonsense". A Kremlin spokesman dimissed allegations that exiled agent Alexander Litvinenko, an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was the victim of an assassination attempt by Russian security services. British police are investigating after Litvinenko, a former colonel in...

PUSAN, South Korea -- Unrepentant and professing support for communism, the last living American defector in North Korea has spoken out publicly for the first time about his life in the nation and his motivations for defecting -- on celluloid. "I'm telling you a story I never told anyone," James "Comrade Joe" Dresnok says in the film "Crossing the Line," which had its world premiere Monday at South Korea's Pusan International Film Festival. "I have never regretted coming to [North Korea]. I feel at home."

UNREPENTANT in his support for communism, the last American defector living in North Korea spoke for the first time yesterday of his life and motivations for defecting.“I’m telling you a story I never told anyone,” says James “Comrade Joe” Dresnok in Crossing the Line, the story of a rare convert to the ways of the world’s most isolated nation. “I have never regretted coming to the DPRK. I feel at home,” he says in the film which had its premiere at the South Korean Pusan International Festival. Made by British film-makers in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the documentary...

Kim Duk-Hong: Interview with a North Korean Defector Kim Duk Hong is one of the highest ranking officials to defect from North Korea. He escaped from North Korea in 1997, first to Beijing and then to Seoul, along with Hwang Jang Yop, the architect of the North Korea regime's ideology known as "Juche," meaning "self reliance." Kim was Hwang's assistant for many years. He is officially barred from talking to the press by the South Korean government, however, FRONTLINE obtained this exclusive interview at an undisclosed location in South Korea. The interview was conducted in Korean and has been translated....

China, U.S. in talks on 4 defectors from North May 22, 2006 ¤Ñ WASHINGTON ¡ª The United States has begun negotiations with China over four North Korean defectors, three men and a woman, who broke into the U.S. consulate in Shenyang, China. It was confirmed on Friday that the four North Koreans who had been sheltering in the South Korean consulate recently entered the neighboring U.S. consulate by climbing the wall between the two embassy buildings. A South Korean diplomatic source said yesterday, "The ball is now in the U.S. court," and, "We know that negotiations between the United States...

...I was formerly known as Iraqi Fedayeen Major General, Ali Ibrahim Al-Tikriti. I was one of Saddam's chief Generals dealing with his secret nuclear, chemical, and biological programs... After the Gulf War our weapons programs were driven deep underground to avoid international inspections. We composed an idea of using salvaged parts from Tamuz in the early 90's as well as research we still had filed to begin construction of a simulation reactor. One of the most critical components was the gas centrifuges. After numerous attempts to acquire specially designed high strength aluminum tubes for these centrifuges we were finally successfully...

Many N.Koreans Would Choose U.S. Over South: Poll Signs that the U.S. is opening its doors to refugees from North Korea, starting with a group of six who found asylum there Saturday, suggest defectors may soon be able to choose whether to go to America or South Korea, with many expected to pick the former option. A survey conducted by the Chosun Ilbo on Monday among 100 North Korean refugees who settled in South Korea found that 50 would go to the U.S. given a choice and 46 South Korea. The others were not sure. Of those who chose the...

First Group of N.Korean Refugees ‘Headed for U.S.’ Some five or six North Korean defectors are reportedly preparing to enter the U.S. under the protection of its embassy in a Southeast Asian country as Washington prepares to make good on a pledge to grant asylum to more refugees from the Stalinist country. Sources in the U.S. government and Congress said Thursday as soon as procedural matters with the Asian country are resolved, the North Koreans will make their way to the U.S. Another official said the defectors are staying at a safe house in the U.S. legation in a Southeast...

US President George W. Bush (R) pats Han-Mi Kim of North Korea on the knee at the White House in Washington. Bush called North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's regime "heartless," after an emotional meeting with families of Japanese nationals kidnapped by North Korean agents(AFP/Mandel Ngan)

Bush Meets N.Korean Defectors, Activists Sakie Yokota, mother of Japanese kidnap victim Megumi Yokota, testifies on Capitol Hill on Thursday before a House committee as Koh Myung Sup, a South Korean abductee listens at right. Holding up photos of her daughter is her son Takuya Yokota. /AP-Yonhap U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday morning met with North Korean refugees including seven-year-old Kim Han-mi and his family, who defected from North Korea in 2002, and Chung Seong-san, the artistic director of the hit musical “Yoduk Story” about a North Korean concentration camp. The hour-long meeting at the Oval Office...

White House Puts Face on North Korean Human Rights By Peter Baker Wednesday, April 19, 2006; A01 She showed up at a school in a coastal city in China nearly five months ago and begged for help. Instead, she was deported to her native North Korea and never seen again. Now the case of Kim Chun Hee has made its way to the desk of President Bush, threatening to complicate the first White House visit of China's leader tomorrow and further irritate an irritable relationship. Urged on by evangelical supporters from his home town and other activists elsewhere, Bush has...

Kim Young-nam's Abductor Now Free in S.Korea The North Korean agent who kidnapped Kim Young-nam from South Korea in 1978 now lives in Seoul and has his own business, it was revealed Thursday. Kim was this week identified as the man North Korea says was married to the famous Japanese abductee Megumi Yokota. In a divided nation, his abductor Kim Gwang-hyun lives comfortably in the South while his victim is stuck in the repressive North as an instructor of spies who will be dispatched to the South. Kim Gwang-hyun kidnapped Kim Young-nam, then a high school student who was on...

N.Korean Gulag Musical Premieres N.K. Prison Camp Musical Falls Foul of Seoul Officialdom A controversial musical set in a North Korean gulag has at last been staged, overcoming pressure from powerful circles to bin the production for fear of offending Pyongyang. Wednesday night saw the opening of “Yoduk Story” at the Seoul KyoYuk Munhwa Hoekwan auditorium. It has been a difficult road for producer Chung Seong-san, himself a North Korean defector, that saw him reportedly exposed to death threats and official pressure. “Yoduk Story” centers on Kang Yeon-hwa, the daughter of a party official and a promising dancer. When...

/begin my translationN. Korea: Nine N. Korean Defectors to U.S. Since '97 [Yonhap News 2005-10-07 23:48] (Seoul, Yonhap News) Kim Nam-kwon = It is now revealed that there are 9 N. Korean defectors in total, who escaped N. Korea and took political asylum in U.S..  Assemblyman Kwon Young-seh, a lawmaker of (opposition) Hannara Party, citing documents submitted to National Assembly by National Intelligence Service(NIS: S. Korean intelligence agency) during a closed-door session of (annual) congressional audit , disclosed, "From '97 up to this year, 27 N. Koreans applied for a political asylum, of whom 18 had their application rejected, and only...

S Korea tells activist of North's `plot' THREATENED: The head of a group supporting families of kidnap victims is allegedly being targeted by North Korean agents over his outspoken stance AP , SEOUL Tuesday, Oct 04, 2005,Page 4 Advertising South Korea's spy agency yesterday warned the country's top activist seeking the return of compatriots abducted by Pyongyang that agents from North Korea might try to attack him. The National Intelligence Service said it delivered the warning to Choi Sung-yong, leader of a group of South Koreans whose relatives are believed to have been kidnapped to the North, after receiving a...

Click the following links to play the videos: Low resolution: http://ntdtv.co.kr/Media/BehindChineseWalls256-KR.wmvHigh resolution: http://ntdtv.co.kr/Media/BehindChineseWalls1M-KR.wmv

SYDNEY (AFP) - A former Chinese diplomat who defected to Australia has charged that Beijing has sent a hit squad to kill him, but Canberra said the claim should be treated with caution. Chen Yonglin, 37, who was last month granted a permanent protection visa after abandoning his post at the Chinese consulate-general in Sydney in late May, told ABC television a friend had warned him that assassins were on his trail. "I receive a message from one of my closest friends in China, working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, saying that the government has sent -- one month...

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - The Australian government said Friday it has granted a permanent visa to a diplomat who defected from Beijing's consulate in Sydney in May and claimed China has a vast network of spies in Australia. Kirk Coningham, a spokesman for Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone, confirmed Chen Yonglin, his wife and six-year-old daughter had been granted a permanent protection visa, most often given to people fleeing persecution in their homeland. Chen, who has been in hiding since fleeing China's Sydney Consulate, could not immediately be reached for comment. At several news conferences he has given since going...

China’s communist leaders view the United States as their main enemy and are working in Asia and around the world to undermine U.S. alliances, said a former Chinese diplomat. Chen Yonglin, until recently a senior political officer at the Chinese Consulate in Sydney, Australia, said in an interview that China also is engaged in large-scale intelligence-gathering activities in the United States that, in the past, netted large amounts of confidential U.S. government documents from agents. “The United States is considered by the Chinese Communist Party as the largest enemy, the major strategic rival,” Mr. Chen told The Washington Times in...

U.S. Campaign to Push for N. Korean Rights By BO-MI LIM, Associated Press Writer Sun Jun 26, 3:14 PM ET SEOUL, South Korea - Christian supporters from President Bush's Texas hometown, believed to have been instrumental in pressuring the White House to raise concerns over war-ravaged Sudan, are launching another international human rights campaign — this time against North Korea's hard-line regime. Members of the Midland Ministerial Alliance, a network of more than 200 churches in the city, are in Seoul this week seeking support for their latest push for improved human rights in the communist North. "North Korean human...

North Korea Complains About Bush MeetingBy BURT HERMAN, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 23, 6:38 AM ET SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea condemned President Bush for meeting a prominent defector detained as a child in a prison camp, saying Thursday the move chilled the atmosphere for a return to nuclear disarmament talks. ADVERTISEMENT Meanwhile, a high-ranking North Korean delegation in Seoul held a rare meeting with South Korea's president as the two sides discussed family reunions and military contacts across their Cold War border. The talks between the divided Koreas are running alongside efforts to coax the North back...

Three North Koreans Flee to South Three apparent defectors from North Korea were found on Friday morning, two in the West Sea and one in Gangwon Province, a day after a show of inter-Korean unity marking the fifth anniversary of the June 15 Joint Declaration came to an end in Pyongyang. Police and military officials are investigating how the three crossed the DMZ and whether they intended to defect. Soldiers on Friday patrol the village of Daema in Choelwon County, Gangwon Province where a North Korean defector was discovered earlier that day. Early on Friday morning, a 65-year-old Cheolwon...

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A Chinese diplomat pleading for political asylum in Australia has said he would rather die than go home, as Prime Minister John Howard tried on Thursday to calm concerns the asylum bid may harm Sino-Australian relations. Howard said an application for political asylum by Chen Yonglin, a 37-year-old political affairs consul at China's Sydney consulate, would not be influenced by Australia's booming trade and economic ties with China. "Let me simply say that, just as in relation to the U.S., we have steadfastly refused to mix trade with politics and strategy and national security. So it is...

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A Chinese diplomat who has sought political asylum in Australia and claims spies are hunting him for aiding pro-democracy groups has contacted a U.S. consulate about his situation, an official said on Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy told Reuters that Chen Yonglin, a 37-year-old political affairs consul at China's consulate in Sydney, had contacted a U.S. consulate in Australia about his situation, but was unable to comment further. Local media reported on Tuesday that Chen had asked if he could defect to the United States. Chen, who has worked in Sydney for the past four...

A senior Chinese diplomat who wants to defect said he could help identify many of the "thousand secret agents" China has in Australia. Chen Yonglin said he feared for his life and was on the run with his wife and six-year-old daughter as Chinese agents were after him. Speaking at a pro-democracy rally in Martin Place yesterday to mark the 16th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, Mr Chen said Chinese agents had kidnapped dissidents in Australia and forced them back to China. "I am seeking political asylum in Australia. I am in a very dangerous situation. Chinese agents are...

May 23, 2005 THE WORLD Secret N. Korean Footage Suggests Nascent Dissent By Barbara Demick, Times Staff Writer BANGKOK, Thailand — With shaking hands, the North Korean climbed onto the shoulders of a buddy to reach the underside of the bridge. As another accomplice stood guard, he hung up a banner denouncing North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in bright red paint. Then he took out a video camera, disguised to look like a carton of cigarettes, and filmed his handiwork for posterity. Today, the North Korean who says he shot the video on behalf of a group called the...

May 13, 2005 - 07:38 PM Refugee Group Interview: North Korean Neocons! Defectors, Interviews, Politics, Refugeesby OneFreeKorea a/k/a WonsanGhetto Thanks again to reader Brendan Brown and his North Korean refugee students in Seoul, who have agreed to a second group interview to share their opinions about their homeland and give us a rare--albeit unscientific--glimpse into the perspective of ordinary North Koreans. Undoubtedly, it took great courage for them to discuss matters that could put them or their families at risk. For their protection, I have redacted details that could identify them. Brendan is an Australian national who teaches English to...

http://www.dailynk.com/korean/read.php?cataId=nk01300&num=4957/begin my translation   Three Reasons for Kim Jong-il's Obsession with Nukes: Defector's Take Regime Survival, Extorting Economic Aids, Keeping People under Control [ 2005-05-01 19:44 ] Kim Jong-il touring a command center  at the Eastern  Front  We as N. Korean defectors had many times heard in N. Korea , 'N. Korea has nukes.'  We find it really 'silly' when people in the South are engaged in heated debate over the existence of (N. Korean) nukes. Even today in the South, about N. Korean nukes, some say, "Because the Cold War between U.S. and Soviet Union had ended, N. Korea has nobody to...

N. Korean Underground Church (BBC world 04/25/05) <Click Here For News Clip> Transcript: Missionaries in S.korea are trying to win converts in the communist North where Christian groups say there is widespread persecution. The missionaries in the South say their work has been made easier by greater freedom of movement in North Korea, particularly in the border areas.Essential supplies for persecuted Christians in North Korea. This missionary group in Seoul smuggles ten thousand bibles into the North each year. It says it has trained more than hundred refugees and sent them back to spread the word.It's dangerous work in a closed...

N. Korea: Public Execution Video Now Available Click Here for Viewing Summary 0:00 brief intro by anchors first video shot 0:50: video starts 3:25: verdict read 4:50: execution proceeds second video shot - same general content a narrator describes the scene in hushed voice comments by anchors brief interview with a man who was involved in the operation. more background information identifying landmarks using a known photo of the place defectors identify landmarks. more analysis of scene for authenticating the location more comments and interviews ...... a female N. Korean defector broke down, seeing the execution video. near the end,...

/begin my translation N. Korea: Three Pillars of Regime, Personality Cult, Military, and Food Distribution, Collapsed three pillars, personality cult, military, and food distribution, collapsedN. Korean leader Kim Jong-il surrounded by soldiers(top);S. Korean President Roh Moo-hyun(bottom) Japanese "Diamond Weekly" (01/29/05): N. Korea sliding into a collapse - by Sakurai Yoshiko I am presenting the result of my investigation, done this month(January) in S. Korea, into how Roh Moo-hyun government would deal with N. Korea to solve problems of kidnapping, nukes, and missiles. What impressed me after a series of investigations is the contrast between N. Korea, which is on the...

The coming economic crisis. Unemployment. Health care for the poor. The almost 1,500 dead soldiers. The almost 100,000 dead Iraqis. Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher. The Christian Conservative takeover of our nation. The missing 9 billion. The missing weapons of mass destruction. The impending invasion of Iran, and Syria. The total failure to protect us on 9-11.

US Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, who had hoped to replace George W. Bush as president yesterday, instead sat in the cold and clapped as the Republican began a second four-year term. Iowa Democratic Senator Tom Harkin patted Senator Kerry on the back shortly before the inauguration Senator Kerry had hoped would be his. As Mr Bush delivered his inaugural address, Senator Kerry, about 10m away on the steps of the US Capitol, joined other lawmakers and the crowd in repeated applause. Senator Kerry looked relaxed, at times wistful. He frequently smiled, able to hide any disappointment over what...

Click Note: At first the camera is facing down to the ground. The video shows a lot of human shadows, legs, and stuffs on display at the market. It is rather chaotic. After that, it gets better. However, the camera man must be an amateur. The camera was not held steady in many places. A man makes an anti-Kim Jong-il speech with his face not shown. You can only see Kim Jong-il's picture defaced with anti-Kim Jong-il statements. The speech takes up the second half of video. The original video is said to be 35 minutes long. However, the video...