[N. Korea] Ex-KGB agents hired to protect Kim Jong Un from assassins

Asahi Shimbun ^ | August 25, 2017 | YOSHIHIRO MAKINO

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ex-KGB agents hired to protect Kim Jong Un from assassins

By YOSHIHIRO MAKINO/ Correspondent

August 25, 2017 at 15:00 JST

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SEOUL--North Korea has hired former KGB agents as “military advisers” to bolster protection of leader Kim Jong Un against assassination attempts by the United States and South Korea, a source said.

About 10 or so former KGB agents who once worked in a division tasked with taking down terrorists were invited to Pyongyang in February, according to the source knowledgeable about affairs in the North Korean capital.

They were asked to train Kim’s bodyguards, including how to detect possible terrorist acts beforehand and how to counter such threats when they occur.

The source said North Korean officials were especially interested in guarding against assassination attempts by the United States using some of its most advanced weapons.

One weapon in particular that has attracted the attention of North Korean officials is the Gray Eagle attack drone, which the U.S. military based in South Korea is planning to deploy in early 2018.

In addition, Pyongyang is concerned about plans by the U.S. military and CIA to set up a division that will exclusively handle human intelligence activities in North Korea.

Pyongyang likely expects the former KGB agents to hand down methods of cracking down on spies within the country to strengthen protection of Kim.

A North Korean statement issued in May 2017 accused South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) of cooperating with the CIA in plotting an assassination of Kim by seeking cooperation of North Korean workers in June 2014.

In June 2017, the NIS issued a report to the South Korean National Assembly, saying the North Korean leader had cut back on public appearances over fears of assassination attempts.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the KGB was dismantled and replaced by a new state security apparatus in Russia.

[TigerLikesRooster]

P!

[allendale]

Not a good time to be part of the inner circle or have close proximity to the “dear leader” Kim. Everyone is suspected.

[Regulator]

*yawn*

One tactical nuke, carefully targeted

[nickcarraway]

Not smart. The GRU was the competent Russian intelligence agency.

[MtnClimber]

Russia may want little fat boy dead too. I would not want to be in any line of fire.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Fat boy is scared of the chicoms.

[MtnClimber]

Fat boy should be afraid of everything. Judgement day won’t go well. There are uncountable situations that could get him in line for judgement.

[lee martell]

So Kim can’t trust his own people? Sad!
I’m sure Putin was more than happy to take the role of ‘Understanding Protector’. That phrase sounds a lot like ‘Puppet Master’ in Russian.

[Stosh]

I wonder what it costs to turn a former KGB agent - I bet there’s big money in sidelining a head case with nukes in his pocket.

[DoodleBob]

There may be a better way than taking out KJU.

For a moment, imagine the NK Leader eating with his generals. One of them drops dead. A few moments later, another one drops dead. Rinse and repeat over a week. Then, Kim Jong-un wakes from a bad night's sleep to this...

This is almost no different from the military head games Reagan ran around the Soviets in the early 1980s. It was brutally effective, without a shot being fired.

"Sometimes we would send bombers over the North Pole and their radars would click on," recalls Gen. Jack Chain, [a] former Strategic Air Command commander. "Other times fighter-bombers would probe their Asian or European periphery." During peak times, the operation would include several maneuvers in a week. They would come at irregular intervals to make the effect all the more unsettling. Then, as quickly as the unannounced flights began, they would stop, only to begin again a few weeks later.

Yea, if we go psyops, we will still get rhetoric from NK and his people remain under tyranny. However, he can take a hint, and I suspect news of how that new guy in DC operates will reach China pretty fast AND the KGB guys may think twice about their new job. Then...BOOM...NK is now neutralized.

[Reverend Wright]

Putin taking out insurance for the day when Kim il Sung becomes more of a liability than an asset...

[Trod Upon]

Good. The more paranoid and irrational Porky becomes the better. Hopefully some general gets spooked enough to do the right thing.

[SpaceBar]

17,000 lbs of powdered aluminum detonated at the right time and place will make his totally awesome ninja KGB bodyguards largely irrelevant.

[righttackle44]

Let’s take out a key man insurance policy on him.

[AdmSmith]

If this is correct Xi will be even more suspicious about Russia; not only did they trick China into the Korean war, they would probably do it again.