hijackers, the Independent Revolutionary Party Founding Preparation Committee was created by Kim Il-sung and managed by the KWP External Coordination Departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 56th Division, which received orders directly from Kim Jong-il himself.13 The <RGR JR *URXS was placed under the supervision of the 695 Unit of the External Coordination Department in the early 1970s.14 The <RGR JR *URXS KDG VLJQLĂ&#x20AC;FDQW LQĂ XHQFH ZLWKLQ WKH .:3 ([WHUQDO &RRUGLQDWLRQ 'HSDUWPHQW. Kim Il-sung placed great personal trust in the groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leader, Takamaro Tamiya,15 and gave his son Kim Jong-il the responsibility to oversee their operations. The group eventually became fully integrated into the structural organization of the KWP. In the second half of the 1990s, when the External Coordination Departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s international notoriety grew due to its illicit activities, the department changed its name to the more innocuous â&#x20AC;&#x153;Social and Cultural Study Department.â&#x20AC;? But after a period of trying to use that label, the Department reverted to its original name. 3. KWP Operations Department The Korean Workers Party Operations Department is comprised of over three thousand agents who work at various training compounds and spy bases across the country.16 It is considered to be the largest and most central department within Building 3. Its responsibilities include the execution of espionage activities, meaning that its operatives support, protect, and carry out assassinations as well as the abductions RI LPSRUWDQW Ă&#x20AC;JXUHV The Departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spy bases are split into two categories depending on their Ă&#x20AC;HOGV RI PLVVLRQ the Land Division and the Sea Division. Land Division bases are located at Sariwon and Kaesong. Sea Division bases are located at the ports of Haeju, Wonsan, Chongjin, and Nampo.17 This Department also runs the Kim Jong-il Political-Military University, the military and espionage training school where former agents Kim Hyon-hui and Ahn Myong-jin studied. They were instructed by abductees, including Megumi Yokota. Ahn also reported seeing Hasuike Kaoru, Shuichi Ichikawa, and Takeshi Terakoshi at the University (see satellite image).18 Ahn revealed what it is like to study and train at the Kim Jong-il PoliticalMilitary University. The former operative was a member of the 25th class to graduate 13
Yao, Megumi. 6KD]DL VKLPDVX (Bungeishunjyu, 2002), 169. Moreover, according to Japanese journalist, Koji Takazawa, who has interviewed the Yodo-go Group numerous times, the group was managed by the KWP Yodo-go Group Special Division. Judging from this GHWDLOHG LQIRUPDWLRQ LW PLJKW EH WKDW WKH JURXS Ă&#x20AC;UVW WUDLQHG LQ WKH 8QLW DQG WKHQ ZDV DVVLJQHG WR WKH WK Division, which changed its name to the Yodo-go Group Special Division. 15 Takazawa, Koji. 6KXNXPHL (Shinchousha, 1997), 349. 16 Eya, Osamu. 7DLQLFKL %RXU\DNX +DNXVKR (Shogakukan, 1999), 67-69. 14
17 Ibid. 68. See also Bermudez, â&#x20AC;&#x153;A New Emphasis on Opertaions Against South Korea,â&#x20AC;? 38 North, Sais, June 11, 2010, p. 10. 18 Ahn, Myong-jin. 6KLQ 6KRJHQ 5DFKL (Kosaido Shuppan, 2005), p. 122.
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