A USA citizen detained in North Korea confessed Friday to his crime of espionage in connection with South Korea’s spy agency and asked for mercy, the North’s state media said.
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Mr. Kim, in a blue suit, kept his head bowed and his hands folded in front of him as uniformed North Korean officials escorted him to the news conference, according to photos carried by Kyodo on its website. Kim apologised for trying to steal military and state secrets in collusion with South Koreans, and said he was paid for doing it. He described the acts as aimed at overthrowing the North Korean regime, KCNA said.
Kim Dong Chul, who has previously said he was a naturalised American citizen and was arrested in North Korea in October, admitted to committing “unpardonable espionage” under the direction of the US and South Korean governments and deeply apologised for his crimes, the North’s KCNA news agency said. He told CNN in January that he lived in Fairfax, Va., before moving in 2011 to the Chinese city of Yangji near the North Korean border.
According to Kim’s explanation on Friday, he was detained on October 2 in Rason, a special economic zone on the northeastern tip of North Korea bordering China and Russian Federation, after he received a USB stick containing nuclear-linked and military secrets from his source.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, the country’s main spy agency, said Kim’s case wasn’t related to the organization in any way and offered no further comment.
The report came more than one week after a USA college student detained in the North was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor on charges of state subversion. In recent days, North Korea’s state media has conducted weapons launches and issued warlike rhetoric to attack Seoul and Washington in response to ongoing annual military drills between the allies that it sees as an invasion rehearsal. North Korea in the past released some US detainees after high-profile American figures visited the country.
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The North is also holding a Korean-Canadian Christian pastor, who is serving a life sentence for subversion.
