A close confidant of Kim Jong-Il defects to America

Yonhap News via Chosun Ilbo ^ | 05/17/03 | N/A

[TigerLikesRooster]

/start my translation

A close confidant of Kim Jong-Il defects to U.S.

/snip

Kil Jae-Gyung, a close confidant of the General Secretary of N. Korean Worker's Party, Kim Jong-Il, defected to U.S. recently. His position is a deputy depratment chief of General Secretariat's Clerk's Office, the S. Korean equivalent of the Office of Presidential Secretaries.

A diplomatic source in Seoul disclosed on 17th (of May, 2003), "Deputy Department Chief Kil Jae-Gyung and two others requested a political asylum to U.S. while staying at a third country. They are now at a safe location."

The source added, "We cannot disclose their exact location now. But since they request the asylum to U.S., it is natural that they are in U.S. or a place under U.S. administration."

Asked about the motive of his defection, the source added, "He and his team were directing the drug smuggling operation using the N. Korean freighter Pong-Su which was raided by Australian authorities on 20th of the last month, carrying 50 kg of heroin worth 50 million dollars. When the ship was raided, he fear a punishment from Kim Jong-Il and decided to defect."

/snip

The source went on to say, "Recently defections of N. Korean high-ranking figures are suddenly on the rise. Yom Jin-Chul, the son of Yom Ki-Soon, the First Deputy Chief of Organization Instruction Department of (N. Korean) Worker's Party, also defected not long ago while on a business trip to a third country."

/snip

The source also added, "A N. Korean navy admiral, who has detailed knowledge of N. Korean navy's capacity, is among those who defected along with Dr. Kyoung Won-Ha (the father of N. Korean nukes) last February.

/end my translation

[snippy_about_it]

saving bump

[struggle]

Over here the only real protest against re-arming Japan is from the Japanese Communist and Labor partys (Kyosanto and Shakaito) the others seem to have no opinion but are probably for it. The real problem is that Japan has still to wake up from it's "everything is peaceful" attitude. People lately have been alluding to it on the politics shows, but there is also a heavy feeling of dependance on America. I hope Japan re-arms as well, because the structure of their government precludes them becoming a "bad" government again. We'll see.

[Paul Ross]

Yes. The more they rattle their sabers, the less the like the results from the GWB administration. Not at all what they expected.

[Libertina]

AmericanInTokyo BUMP