A Can of Man
Je suis aware
Also from the Korea Herald.
A woman, disguising herself as a defector from North Korea, has been gathering military intelligence in the South for the North Korean communists over the past several years. Her case is a wakeup call for South Korean intelligence service, whose vigilance has apparently been dulled by the previous administrations' efforts to improve inter-Korean relations.
According to reports from counterintelligence personnel, the woman married a South Korean in China before coming to the South back in 2001. She got divorced soon after settling in the South and developed intimate relationships with military officers to gather intelligence for the North.
Her case is the first to confirm suspicions that there may be North Korean spies among those who have settled in the South as North Korean defectors. Since 1998, 14,000 North Koreans have defected to the South, mostly via China and Southeast Asian countries.
More North Koreans are defecting to the South each year. During the first half of this year, the number increased to 1,774, up 42 percent from the same period last year. The South Korean counterintelligence authorities will have to take greater care in debriefing them before South Korean citizenship is granted to them. Of course, innocent North Korean defectors must not be discriminated against.
The spy case is a shocking reminder that North Korea will use all means possible to gather intelligence in the South, no matter how much it takes in aid from South Korea and how sympathetic the its people are to the economic plight of the North.
No less surprising is that the woman is only one of two arrested on charges of spying for the North during the past decade. The National Intelligence Service and the Defense Security Command will have to bolster their counterintelligence capabilities, regardless of closer cooperation and more frequent exchanges with the North.
A woman, disguising herself as a defector from North Korea, has been gathering military intelligence in the South for the North Korean communists over the past several years. Her case is a wakeup call for South Korean intelligence service, whose vigilance has apparently been dulled by the previous administrations' efforts to improve inter-Korean relations.
According to reports from counterintelligence personnel, the woman married a South Korean in China before coming to the South back in 2001. She got divorced soon after settling in the South and developed intimate relationships with military officers to gather intelligence for the North.
Her case is the first to confirm suspicions that there may be North Korean spies among those who have settled in the South as North Korean defectors. Since 1998, 14,000 North Koreans have defected to the South, mostly via China and Southeast Asian countries.
More North Koreans are defecting to the South each year. During the first half of this year, the number increased to 1,774, up 42 percent from the same period last year. The South Korean counterintelligence authorities will have to take greater care in debriefing them before South Korean citizenship is granted to them. Of course, innocent North Korean defectors must not be discriminated against.
The spy case is a shocking reminder that North Korea will use all means possible to gather intelligence in the South, no matter how much it takes in aid from South Korea and how sympathetic the its people are to the economic plight of the North.
No less surprising is that the woman is only one of two arrested on charges of spying for the North during the past decade. The National Intelligence Service and the Defense Security Command will have to bolster their counterintelligence capabilities, regardless of closer cooperation and more frequent exchanges with the North.
