The Marmot’s Hole

Jeez, looks like Wedge was right — the Beeb strikes out again! Some in the South Korean intelligence community have raised doubts as to the authenticity of the “Camp 22″ document referred to by the BBC and the Guardian. Yonhap News (Korean) was kind enough to print a picture of the letter, which I have placed for your viewing pleasure on the right. The caption underneath it reads, and I’m translating here:

Live testing subject “Letter of Transfer” released during a broadcast by the UK’s BBC on the issue of North Korea’s human testing for chemical weapons development. On the crumpled letter, however, the printed text appears faded (lit. damaged) in places, but the text written in pen does not appear faded (lit. not damaged) at all. Moreover, the red stamp, too, reads “National Protection Division,” but North Korea uses the name “National Security Protection Division,” so doubts are being raised as to the document’s authenticity.

Let me explain that last part. On the red stamp on the document, the name of the issuing agency reads, in Korean, Kukga-bowi-bu (??�?��?��?�??��). Roughly translated, this means National Protection Division. The official Korean name of the agency that handles these sorts of establishments, however, is the Kukga-anjeon-bowi-bu (??�?��???????��?�??��). Translated, this means the National Security Division. According to one South Korean intelligence source cited by YTN (Korean), the North Korean internal security institution is always referred to by the latter Korean name, leading him (and others, apparently) to believe that the document in question is a fake. The source also says that the Mr. Kwon featured in the BBC report never worked as an intelligence agent or in the gulags; instead, he worked as a guard at a coal mine.

Reading all this, I’m inclined to agree with the South Korean spooks. However, this, like my post on the initial BBC report, come with a couple of caveats. Firstly, I think it might be wise to take a look at the FAS description of North Korea’s State Safety & Security Agency, the official English name of the Kukga-anjeon-bowi-bu:

The State Safety & Security Agency is the supreme public security apparatus. In 1973 political security responsibilities were transferred from the Ministry of Public Security to the State Security Department [also known as the State Political Security Agency], an autonomous agency reporting directly to the President. The Ministry of State Political Security was separated from the State Administration Council altogether in April, 1982 and renamed the State Security Agency. It was renamed the State Safety & Security Agency in early 1993.

This doesn’t mean a whole lot until you look at a Korean-language description of the organization, provided by the Encyclopedia over at Yahoo! Korea:

1973?�??��?�� ?????�???????��??? ?��?�????????��???, ?��?????�??� ????�?????�� ??�?????� ?�??????� ?��??� ??� 5??� ?��??�??�??? ?��??�??? ?��??� ??�??� ?????�??? ?��?�??????? ?????? ?????�???????��??? ?��??? ?��??�??� ????�??��?�???? ?��??� ?��??�?��??? ?�?????????? ??�??�?��?��?��?�� ????��?�??????�??�. 1982?�? ??�?��?��?�??��?�� ?��?��?????�??�?�� 1993?�? ??�??� ?��?�???? ??�????��?�� ?��?��?????�??�.

So, the official Korean name of the agency was, in fact, the Kukga-bowi-bu (State Security Agency, as translated by FAS) between 1982 and 1993. It is this term that appears on the disputed document. What does this mean? Probably nothing, given that the document in question was dated Feb. 13, 2002. Still, given the lack of resources in North Korea, it’s not inconceivable that the document was recycled, although I highly doubt this, given that Communist bureaucrats are nothing if not not anal, and I have no clue how old the stamp is. I’m just throwing the idea out there for the fun of it.

My other caveat involves the major South Korean intelligence agency, the National Intelligence Service (NIS). Personally, I trust them only as far as I can throw them, which is not very far at all. The agency is run by a one Ko Young-koo, a Noh appointee who was savaged during his nomination process by both the rightist Grand National Party and the right-wing press for being a leftist non-professional highly unqualified to be South Korea’s top spook. Now, I’ll admit that some of the flak the guy took was unjustified, and since assuming his position, he’s handled himself fairly professionally. I still don’t trust him, however, and his agency has been the target of more than a few unflattering reports claiming that rather than catching North Korean agents and spying on P’yongyang, the agency seems to be spending more time trying to keep defectors quiet and blowing Sunshine up our asses.

Anyway, the document looks like a fake, with the Beeb continues its rough streak. Still, if it comes out later that South Korean intelligence was simply looking to squash yet another unflattering report about the North, there would certainly be precedence for it, and shocked I would not be.