[단독]Testimony of shock of North Korean embassy raid

A person who is believed to be Christopher from the former US Marine Corps was photographed on a surveillance camera in front of the North Korean Embassy in Madrid, Spain on February 22, 2019 (local time). Provided by the California Federal Attorney. [뉴시스]

In February 2019, it was argued that the anti-North Korean organization “Free Joseon” (formerly Cholima Civil Defense) “attacked” the North Korean embassy in Madrid, Spain at the request of North Korean diplomats to disguise asylum as kidnapping. It is said that a plurality of North Korean diplomats initially conspired to escape this way, but when discovered, they falsely testified that they were attacked to avoid punishment by the North Korean authorities.

Christopher Ahn’s group of lawyers who were the only arrested among the free Joseon embassy invading the embassy submitted a written opinion on the matter to the US federal court on the 22nd (local time). According to the full text of the opinions of lawyers obtained exclusively by the JoongAng Ilbo, the lawyers defined the case as a self-written play that failed after North Korean diplomats’conspired’ with Free Joseon.

According to the opinion, officials at the North Korean embassy first contacted Free Joseon and asked for help in their defection. He suggested that if betrayal is discovered, North Korea’s family could be retaliated against, and whether it could be a kidnapping.

Embassy of North Korea in Spain. [EPA=연합뉴스]

As promised, on February 22, 2019, around 4:40 pm, Free Joseon leaders Adrian Hong Chang and Ahn arrived at the North Korean embassy. A diplomat opened the door inside, and the party bound the North Korean diplomat and his family. At that time, Mr. Ahn said that he was in a state of having a fracture in his right hand, so he could not even help him and watched.

At around 5:12 pm, suddenly, Chosun-hee, the wife of a North Korean diplomat, jumped out of the window on the second floor. Mr. Cho ran into a man passing by in front of the embassy, ​​and his report brought the case to the police. Mr. Jo communicated with the police using Google Translate and said, “Some people come into the embassy and kill people and eat people. There are also children there.”

At around 5:50 pm, when three police officers rang the doorbell, the people inside the embassy said they knew that Mr. Cho had escaped. Since then, the airflow has changed dramatically. The lawyers said, “The North Koreans were increasingly in pain.” When the phone started ringing, I began to convince myself that I had been caught. After a while, Hong Chang told Ahn, “The North Koreans have changed their minds. They say that they have no intention of defiance.”

‘Adrian Hong Chang’, a suspect in the invasion of the North Korean embassy in Spain last month. [AFP=뉴스1]

At around 9:4 pm, the Free Joseon party left the embassy by sharing the embassy vehicle and the Uber vehicle. At around 9:22, three North Koreans who identified themselves as students of the nearby university’s architecture department arrived at the embassy, ​​and speculation that they were intelligence agents.

The lawyers argued that Ahn knew that North Korean diplomats requested help from North Korean diplomats to escape and entered the embassy to hostage, and that even he was unable to participate due to hand injury, and that no crime was established because illegal acts such as assault, robbery, or injury did not occur. did.

A video capture released on March 20 of that year by’Free Shipbuilding’, an anti-North Korean organization that launched an attack on the North Korean embassy in Spain in February 2019. Free Joseon released the video at the time and did not explain the filming location. [자유조선 홈페이지 영상 캡처=연합뉴스]

He also argued that the request for extradition by the Spanish police based only on statements made by North Korean diplomats who feared retaliation from the regime was unjust. At that time, 9 North Korean diplomats, 6 family members, and 3 architecture students, all of which reported to the Spanish police, all of whom were investigated in the presence of the embassy’s highest rank, Mr. Seo. Because Mr. Seo acted as a watchdog, the testimonies that exaggeratedly expressed his loyalty to the North Korean regime were doubtful.

The lawyers cited North Korean experts and explained to the court that these cases were usually reported to the top through the North Korean Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of State Security, and that the Labor Party organizational leadership immediately arrested the family and confiscated the property. After explaining that North Korea has committed kidnappings and murders abroad for a long period of time, he pointed out that the problem is not the fairness of Spanish judicial procedures, but the North Korean torture and kill of political enemies.

In particular, as media reports that Ahn helped North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s eldest son Kim Jong-nam escape Macau, he said that if he leaves the United States, he will become a target for the North Korean regime’s murder. He appealed to him to admit it.

The lawyers also criticized the Trump administration’s acceptance of the Spanish government’s request to hand over Mr. Ahn. The Trump administration has accepted Ahn’s repatriation based on the results of an investigation based on statements made by North Korean diplomats and family members in April 2019. The North Korea-U.S. Hanoi summit was held on February 27-28 five days after the incident.

The lawyers said, “Mr. Ahn did not even dream that the US government would trust the North Korean diplomat’s statement.” He pointed out that “(India) is to cooperate with North Korea in taking US veterans with the Spanish government as a tool.” Born in the United States, Ahn is a soldier who served in the Marine Corps for 6 years.

It is unclear whether the court will accept the opinion of the lawyers submitted that day. This is because the lawyers did not provide evidence to support Ahn’s assertion that North Korean diplomats requested defection in the written opinion. However, the court may consider that the Spanish police also failed to provide evidence other than those of North Korean diplomats. The federal court plans to hold a hearing on April 9 to decide whether to extradite the criminal.
Washington = Correspondent Park Hyun-young [email protected]