N. Korea: Kim’s Eldest Takes Interest in South(a spy working for Chia Head's son captured)

“Send me video tapes of the annual award shows for TV drama, pop songs, and comedy programs from Korea Broadcasting System (KBS) and Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC),” “A South Korean magazine ran an article about me. I’ll have to be careful,” wrote Kim Jong Nam (photo), the eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, in an e-mail that he sent to his close aide in China in late 2002.

The person who received the e-mail was Cho Kyung Chun, a general accountant and president of the Beijing office of a trade company, which is a stronghold of North Korea’s overseas operation. Cho is a Korean-Chinese agent who worked for North Korea. Under the instruction from Pyongyang’s “International Affairs Department,” he sent various data, including South Korea’s national secrets, to the North via Chung, a 67-year-old overseas Chinese born in Taiwan and who was recently arrested.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) found yesterday that Cho “placed an order” on many occasions under direct instructions from Kim Jong Nam, apart from the official instruction from the “International Affairs Department.”

In its investigation into Chung, the NIS found an e-mail address that Cho created on a South Korean Internet portal site.

The NIS seized and searched Cho’s e-mail account and confirmed that Cho frequently contacted with Kim from June 2002 to March 2004. Kim wrote e-mails to Cho under the pseudonym of “Kim Chul.”

Kim asked Cho in his e-mail in December 2002 to send him videotapes of the yearly award shows for TV dramas, pop songs, and comedy programs of KBS and MBC. Also, Kim requested Cho to send him South Korean movies, “The Hidden Princess” and “Double Agent.” Just like his father, Kim Jong Nam appears to be interested in the South’s movies, broadcasts, and media.

Kim sometimes asked for computers or toys for children, but he was mainly interested in the South’s media outlets description of him.

Most of the data that Chung, who operated in the South and was arrested on April 10, sent to the North via Cho for five years was South Korean media reports which covered the situation of the North’s ruling elites.

After the South Korean media reported that Kim tried to smuggle himself into Japan but was deported in May 2001, Chung mainly sent South Korean magazines which ran analyses of North Korean ruling elites to the North via Cho.

The NIS said that Kim wrote in an e-mail, “I read an article about me in the South’s magazine. I have to be careful in everything.”

An investigation official said, “It appears that Kim Jong Nam knows what South Korean media reported in detail.”

Another article on the same incident:

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=81423&version=1&template_id=45&parent_id=25

Taiwanese charged with spying for N Korea:

SeoulPublished: Wednesday, 12 April, 2006, 11:19 AM

Doha Time

SEOUL: A Taiwanese national has been charged with spying after working secretly in Seoul for the son of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il for the past decade, South Korean intelligence said yesterday. The 67-year-old man, identified only by his family name Cheung, has been charged with violating South Korea’s National Security Law.

The long-term resident in Seoul worked for Kim Jong-Nam, the eldest son of North Korean dictator Kim, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said. Kim Jong-Nam is one of three sons who are vying to succeed their 63-year-old dictator father Kim.

Cheung is believed to be a computer buff entrusted with raising the impoverished country’s poor technology level.

Cheung was recruited over a decade ago by a 49-year-old North Korean agent working in Beijing and linked directly to Kim Jong-Nam, the NIS said.

Most of the information relayed by Cheung to the North Korean agent, also identified only by his famly name, Cho, concerned high technology, the NIS said, adding that Cho was in contact with Kim Jong-Nam via email.

“Investigators have found the North Korean agent (Cho) has exchanged emails with the user of an e-mail account (who) was believed to be Kim Jong-Nam,” an NIS official said.

“Most of the informations Cheung conveyed to Cho were concerned with IT industry and technology.”

In 2001, he handed over to Cho the latest edition of South Korea’s IT Who’s Who which lists all the important actors in the high-technology sphere. He also delivered South Korea’s latest government white paper on the IT sector.

Cheung, at the request from the North Korean agent, also attempted to obtain a detailed electronic maritime map of the South Korean coast but failed, the NIS official said.

Cheung, described as a businessman from Taiwan trading with China, met the 49-year-old North Korean agent for the first time in 1986 in Beijing. From the early 1990s, Cheung’s business relationship with Cho changed and he began working as a spy.

Over the years he purchased and sent undisclosed items worth a total of $130,000 to Cho, who reportedly told Cheung that the goods had been ordered by Kim Jong-Nam. North Korean leader Kim has three sons: Jong-Nam, 35, Jong-Chol, 24 and Jong-Un, 21. Jong-An is widely believed to have lost favour with his father because of his eccentric behaviour.

In 2001, he was caught by Japanese authorities trying to enter the country with a fake passport.–AFP

“A South Korean magazine ran an article about me. I’ll have to be careful,”

When Kim Jong-nam was caught in Tokyo while trying to sneak in with a phony passport and visit Tokyo Disney Land, S. Korean media ran with the story. Such wild publicity played a part in killing his status as heir-apparent to Kim Jong-il. Since then, he must have paid careful attention to S. Korean media, trying to avoid damaging international press.

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