Chapter 4:
How the Regime Used Captive Foreigners Trapped Foreigners Were Funneled into Efforts to Further the North’s Espionage Objectives As discussed in Chapter One, we know that in 1946, Kim Il Sung called for intellectuals in the South to be brought to North Korea to aid the revolution, and in 1950, the KWP issued a directive to North Korean troops to seek out certain professionals and bring them to the North. In North Korea, these individuals were often compelled to participate in organizations that served as front organizations IRU WKH UHJLPH VXFK DV WKH ´&RPPLWWHH IRU 3URPRWLRQ RI 3HDFHIXO 8QLĂ€FDWLRQ of the Fatherland.â€? President Lee Mi-il of the Korean War Abductees Families Union points out that the objective of these early abductions was for Pyongyang “to gain necessary human resources, to promote political propaganda within the North, and to create confusion in the South in hopes of readying it for Communist XQLĂ€FDWLRQ 1â€? In the 1950s and 1960s, North Korea continued to lure Korean UHVLGHQWV LQ -DSDQ WR FRPH WR 1RUWK .RUHD FDSWXUHG 6RXWK .RUHDQ Ă€VKHUPHQ DQG used other opportunities to trap certain individuals once they had arrived in North Korea. This set a pattern that grew more aggressive in the 1970s. Abducted Fishermen Were Recruited as Spies against the South 2QH RI WKH 6RXWK .RUHDQ DEGXFWHG Ă€VKHUPHQ ZKR ODWHU UHWXUQHG /HH -KH gun, became very familiar with SSD and MPS personnel during his daily life in 1RUWK .RUHD .:3 SHUVRQQHO NHSW D FDUHIXO ZDWFK RQ HDFK Ă€VKHUPDQ ZLWK DQ H\H WR recruiting spies who could be trusted to return to South Korea to conduct espionage operations. $IWHU WKHLU DUULYDO LQ 1RUWK .RUHD /HH DQG Ă€YH RWKHU FUHZ PHPEHUV ZKR had been on his ship were separated from their compatriots and sent to a base in &KRQJMLQ. They were given a tour by personnel from the Planning Department of the Korean Workers Party. On their return to Pyongyang, Lee was told that the other FUHZ PHPEHUV KDG EHHQ VHQW EDFN WR 6RXWK .RUHD 2 the six who had been selected would remain.3 The selectees were admitted to the Central Party Political School (later named the Kim Jong-il Politics and Military University), and their ,QVWUXFWRU 1
Lee, Mi-il. “North Korea: Human Rights Update and International Abduction Issues,� (testimony given at the U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee, Washington, D.C., April 27, 2006). 2 “Former Abducted Victim Lee Jhe-Gun Talks about his 30 years in North Korea,� The Dong-A Ilbo (Japanese). January 9, 2006. According to a later interview, some of the crew was sent back on November 29, 1970 and eight were left behind. 3 Lee, Jhe-gun. Interview with Author. October 30, 2009. Lee mentioned that he has not been able to meet the other members of the crew since escaping and returning to South Korea.
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