Posted on 10/11/2021 8:47:47 AM PDT by TigerLikesRoosterNew
Drugs, arms, and terror: A high-profile defector on Kim's North Korea
By Laura Bicker BBC News, Seoul
The old habits of secrecy haven't left Kim Kuk-song.
It has taken weeks of discussions to get an interview with him, and he's still worried about who might be listening. He wears dark glasses for the camera, and only two of our team know what we think is his real name.
Mr Kim spent 30 years working his way to the top ranks of North Korea's powerful spy agencies. The agencies were the "eyes, ears, and brains of the Supreme Leader", he says.
He claims he kept their secrets, sent assassins to kill their critics, and even built an illegal drugs-lab to help raise "revolutionary" funds.
Now, the former senior colonel has decided to tell his story to the BBC. It's the first time such a senior military officer from Pyongyang has given an interview to a major broadcaster.
Mr Kim was the "reddest of the red", he says in an exclusive interview. A loyal communist servant.
But rank and loyalty do not guarantee your safety in North Korea.
He had to flee for his life in 2014, and since then he has been living in Seoul and working for South Korean intelligence.
He depicts a North Korean leadership desperate to make cash by any means possible, from drug deals to weapons sales in the Middle East and Africa. He told us about the strategy behind decisions being made in Pyongyang, the regime's attacks on South Korea, and claims that the secretive country's spy and cyber networks can reach around the world.
The BBC cannot independently verify his claims, but we have managed to verify his identity and, where possible, found corroborating evidence for his allegations.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
In the article, there is the following paragraph
We contacted the North Korean embassy in London and the mission in New York for a statement, but have so far received no response.
N. Koreans have developed manners. No bombastic condemnation. Not yet, anyway.
No mention of making money by massive counterfeiting operations?
This guy really didn’t reveal anything not already revealed for several years by others. Given his position I would have expected a more detailed interview. That just isn’t there.
Spies in Blue House could be a new revelation to many, at least to me.
Time and again, high-profile defectors say there is a widespread network of spies in S. Korea. But locals tend to be apathetic. Not just common folks but those who should know better. Both inside and outside S. Korea, such an opinion is viewed with thinly-veiled scorn, a rehash of outdated cold-war era narrative by close-minded people(conservatives.) So it helps to be emphasized and reminded by authoritative figures like him.
There may be stuffs he told alphabet agencies but not to us. Even carried out some operations directed by our side.
He’s probably doing the interview more to raise awareness than provide inside details, especially since he’s probably not entirely free to share the more sensitive ones.
In different interviews and accounts I’ve read, it’s been mentioned that defectors are debriefed at length. With so much volatility in the situation with the North, very high level defectors probably aren’t necessarily free to tell the public all they know.
I’ve watched many of these defectors interviews at various levels from the N.Korean country. Yes, they are certainly limited to what they can say but I found Kim’s chef to be one of the more interesting interviews.....and one other who did give much information about the inner workers of the regime.
He claims he kept their secrets, sent assassins to kill their critics, and even built an illegal drugs-lab to help raise "revolutionary" funds... was the "reddest of the red"... But rank and loyalty do not guarantee your safety in North Korea. He had to flee for his life in 2014...
Sounds like the Demagogic Party.
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