The Marmot’s Hole

The Dong-A Ilbo reports that a 77-year old official from a major South Korean reunificationista organization has been arrested for attempting to give visiting North Korean officials a document that included, among other things, an oath of loyalty to the North Korean regime.

According to prosecutors, the man, identified by his family name of Wu, was attending the recent June 15 celebrations in Gwangju when he attempted to slightly hand off to an agent with the North Korean delegation three diskettes that were marked for the Liaison Bureau of the Korean Workers Party. Somehow, Wu, an official with the pro-Pyongyang Pan-Korea Alliance for Reunification, was sitting just behind the North Korean delegation. Unfortunately for him, a South Korean NIS agent who was assigned to watch him saw it, arrested him and retrieved the diskettes from the North Korean.

The diskettes apparently contained a four-page document that included Wu’s record of service for the Fatherland, which included fighting with pro-North Korean units during the Korean War and service in the Korean People’s Army after his defection to the North. It also conveyed the joy he felt when joining the Korean Workers Party and his never-changing loyalty to the North Korean regime and “The General” in particular.

The diskettes included a letter to his daughter in the North as well.

Wu is an interesting character. He volunteered to fight alongside the North Koreans after the invasion of June 25, 1950, following the army North as it retreated following the Incheon Landing. After a stint in the Korean People’s Army, he underwent training as a intelligence agent, and in 1961 he was sent back to the South, namely to the vicinity of Buan, Jeollabuk-do. He was going to head for his hometown to meet relatives, but during the course of his insertion, two escorting agents were killed, and Wu himself was arrested when his relatives tipped off the authorities. After his arrest, he signed an ideological conversion form and was released the next year.

He told prosecutors he wrote the document because he was concerned his family in the North was having a hard time on his account. However, prosecutors and the NIS don’t believe this to be an solitary incident on Wu’s part, given how a) last year, he held a one-man demonstration in front of the Defense Ministry calling for the abolition of the National Security Law, and b) he’s hardly missed an anti-American demonstration, including the ones opposing the transfer of U.S. bases to Pyeongtaek.

Prosecutors also said the documents suggest he wanted to go North. They say in December 2000, upon hearing that someone from his hometown would be visiting the South for the separated family reunions at Seoul’s Lotte Hotel, he attempted to approach him by taking one of the nametags at the venue. That time, he sent North three tapes containing a similar message. He was arrested, but because prosecutors couldn’t get their hands on the tapes, they were unable to hold him. He was kept under closer watch after that, however.

Authorities also believe someone helped him get close to the North Korean delegation in Gwangju, and hence are expanding their investigation.

Of course, some might ask how it is that members of the Pan-Korea Alliance for Reunification, which the Supreme Court has designated an enemy organization, could attend the Gwangju celebrations. Well, the Unification Ministry said that as long as they do so under their own names rather than that of their organization, it’s OK. Thus officials from the group were able to attend last year’s celebrations in Pyongyang as well. The government has maintained an open policy concerning who may attend the celebrations, but with the event turning into a place where the National Security Law apparently no longer applies, criticism of the government’s posture will likely increase. Or so says the Dong-A Ilbo.