Posted on 07/04/2004 8:20:00 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
N. Korean Missile Engineer in South Applies for Asylum in U.S.
It was learned Saturday that a couple that came to South Korea as defectors from North Korea has applied for exile in the United States. A diplomatic source in Washington said 58-year-old Lee Bok-gu and his wife Lee Sun-hui (not their real names), who fled North Korea in 1997 and came to the South in 1999, have applied with U.S. authorities for exile. There have been cases in which defectors who have escaped from the North have applied for asylum in the U.S. through a third country, but this is the first time defectors have applied for exile in the U.S. after coming to South Korea and becoming regular South Korean citizens.
Lee is known to have been a North Korean missile engineer, and appeared before U.S. Congressional hearing twice -- wearing a mask -- to give testimony on North Korean missile development. The couple entered the U.S. through Canada in June; it is known that the husband had a regular U.S. entry visa. The wife, however, tried to smuggle herself across the border without a visa and was arrested. She was detained near Syracuse, New York. As soon as the wife was arrested, the couple applied to U.S. authorities for asylum. On Friday, the wife was released from detention.
Concerning Lee Bok-gu’s reasons for seeking exile, the U.S. edition of the Hanguk Ilbo said, “After participating in U.S. Senate hearings last year, [the relationship between Lee] and the South Korean authorities grew strained... Since this is a complicated issue between South Korea and the United States, [Lee] could not say what his reasons were exactly.” The paper felt that in the U.S. Senate hearings, Lee offered testimony on actual conditions in North Korea that was quite critical of South Korea’s “Sunshine Policy,” and afterward came under pressure from South Korean authorities. Another Korea expert in Washington said, “It’s true that Lee was critical of the South Korean government, but I don’t know how he was able to enter the United States with a proper entry visa.”
Meanwhile, Kim Gi-sam, the former National Intelligence Service operative who uncovered corruption in former President Kim Dae-jung’s government, applied through the Internet for asylum with the New Jersey asylum office (under the Department of Homeland Security) for him and his family on May 18. Kim, who started asylum procedures last December, said in testimony submitted to the asylum office in March that, “I have applied for asylum because of concern that I may be persecuted in Korea for my political views.”
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You will find this of interest.
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OCTOBER 2002 : (OPERATION WEASEL BEGINS : US & 10 OTHER COUNTRIES WOULD ARRANGE FOR THE DEFECTIONS OF UP TO 20 TOP NORTH KOREAN OFFICIALS, INCLUDING KEY NUCLEAR SCIENTISTS) The United States and at least 10 other countries helped arrange the defections of up to 20 top North Korean officials including key nuclear scientists in an operation that began in October, according to an Australian newspaper. -- "20 officials defect from North Korea," By Doug Struck, WASHINGTON POST, Mon, Apr. 21, 2003
Yeah, I remember that.:)
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