A North Korean defector, arrested by the North for allegedly attempting to destroy key communist statues, has said he was ordered by South Korean and U.S.
intelligence to launch the attacks, claims flatly denied by Seoul.
Earlier in the week, the North said it had arrested North Korean defectors who planned to destroy statues of North Korea's leadership.
The communist country accused South Korea's intelligence unit and the U.S. of masterminding the plot and infiltrating defectors into the North, in its latest propaganda against the South.
In a televised news conference held on Thursday in Pyongyang, the North identified a middle-aged man named Jon Yong-chol as one of the arrested terrorist suspects and aired the man's account of how the attack was conceived and arranged.
In the conference, which the North said was attended by foreign press correspondents and also covered by the (North) Korean Central News Agency, Jon claimed he was lured by a group of North Korean defectors in the South, the South's spy unit and the U.S. to steal back into the communist country to launch the attacks.
Jon said he was first approached by a defector named Kim Song-min who heads an anti-North group in South Korea. Kim persuaded him to work for a defectors' organization which was set up to launch attacks on the statues of North Korea's founding father Kim Il-sung.
Jon later met two South Korean intelligence agents and was promised remote-controlled explosives for the mission, he claimed.
"I set February as the month for demolition, but the 'undertaking' had to be postponed until April as the explosive device was not prepared," he said. An attack in April "would spoil the atmosphere for celebrations of the Day of the Sun," Jon quoted South Korean agents as saying, in reference to centenary celebrations of the birthday of Kim Il-sung.
"However, the 'undertaking' slated for April had to be postponed again because the explosive device was still not ready,"
he added. He said he was caught while loitering in a North Korean city bordering China in the early morning of June 19.
In the conference, Jon said he had defected to the South in 2010 and stayed in the South Korea's re-education institution for defectors.
A day after the North's accusation, the South Korean spy unit identified the defector as a 52-year-old of the same name who came here in November, 2010. He spent three months in the rehabilitation facility before settling down in a town in Gangwon Province, west of Seoul, the unit said.
However, the North's accusations over the South Korean intelligence service's involvement are groundless, a spy agency official said. "The spy agents whom Jon identified at the conference do not even exist."
Another government official also denied the terrorist attempt accusations, saying "Kim Song-min, who Jon accused of being involved, said he is not aware (of it)."
"The accusations falsely blamed on the South seem to be aiming at diverting the source (of the alleged demolition attempts) outside of the country, mainly in order to solidify internal unity," another government official. It's regrettable that the North said so while the South is trying to reopen talks with them, he said. (Yonhap News)
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‘김일성 동상’ 테러범, 과연 누구인가?
북한이 최근 김일성 동상을 파괴하려던 테러범을 적발했다며 공개한 인물이 탈북자 출신인 전영철씨(52)로 확인됐다.
김형석 통일부 대변인은 20일 "북측이 테러범이라고 밝힌 전영철씨의 신분에 대 해 관계기관 조사결과, 2010년 11월 국내로 입국했던 탈북자 출신으로 확인했다"고 밝혔다.
전씨는 함경북도 청진시 송평구역 송림2동에 거주하다 2010년 4월 중국으로 탈북해 약 7개월 후에 국내로 입국했다.
국내 입국 후 하나원에서 3개월간의 정착교육을 받은 후 강원도 춘천시 퇴계동에 거주해왔다.
남한에 가족은 없는 것으로 확인됐으며 19일 평양에서 가진 기자회견에서 북측에 가족이 있다고 밝혔지만 국내 입국 당시에는 재북 가족에 대한 언급은 하지 않았 다.
전씨는 탈북 전 청진에서 외화벌이 일꾼으로 일해왔던 것으로 전해졌다.
전씨는 전날 기자회견에서 자신의 신분을 밝혔으며, 남한 내 탈북자 단체인 '동까모'(김일성 동상을 까는 모임)와 남측 정보기관, 미국의 사주로 국경지방의 동상을 파괴하려 했다고 주장했다.
그러나 국정원 측은 "남측 정보기관이 동상파괴를 기도했다는 주장은 사실이 아니다"면서 "전씨가 남측 정보기관원이라고 주장하는 인물들도 국정원에는 존재하지 않는다"고 밝혔다.
김 대변인도 남측 정부기관 개입 주장에 대해 "사실이 아니다"면서 "북측이 일종의 선전선동 차원에서 하는 것으로 대응할 사안이 아니다"고 밝혔다.
김 대변인은 "다만 북측 주장에 등장하는 남측 인물과 단체 등에 대해 사실확인을 진행 중"이라고 전했다.
전씨가 연루됐다고 주장한 남측 인물 가운데 실제 존재하는 이름도 있는 것으로 알려졌지만 김 대변인은 "북측이 명의를 도용했을 수도 있다"고 설명했다.
