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| Christopher Ahn, a member of Free Joseon, an anti-North Korean organization who participated in the’raid’ of the North Korean embassy in Madrid, Spain in February 2019 (Captured on LinkedIn page) © News1 |
There was a testimony that the anti-North Korean group’Free Joseon’ (formerly the Chollimamin Defense)’s’attack’ of the North Korean embassy in Madrid in Spain in February 2019 was actually a’camouflage play’ to help the North Korean diplomats working at the embassy asylum. Are collecting.
Christopher Ahn, a Korean-American, who is currently being tried by the US judicial authorities for participating in the case, said in a statement recently filed with the court through a group of lawyers.
In the six-page statement submitted by Ahn’s lawyers to the Federal District Court in Los Angeles, California, USA on the 22nd (local time), the case was “I want to asylum in the case of kidnapping.” It was planned by’Free Shipbuilding’ at the request.
Prior to the incident, Mr. A conveyed his intention to asylum to Free Joseon leader Adrian Hong Chang, as if he was not voluntary asylum because he could be retaliated against by the North Korean regime in the future. Mr. Ahn explained that he asked to make up the situation.
However, Ahn said he had no idea of this situation until he arrived in Madrid on February 22, 2019, on the day of the incident. Ahn, after hearing the explanation of the kind from Hong, decided to help A’s asylum with other members of Free Joseon.
In an affidavit, Mr. Ahn explained, “Because North Korea is a’surveillance state,’ I thought the embassy would be covered with surveillance cameras.” . However, Ahn himself said that he had suffered a fracture in his right hand at the time, so he did not even carry this fake gun.
Ahn also repeatedly suggested that there was an internal helper, saying, “When I arrived at the embassy, the staff opened the door and let me in,” along with other members such as Hong. The content of Ahn’s statement is in line with what the Free Joseon side said, “We were invited by an official from the North Korean embassy.”
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| Capturing the cover of a statement submitted to the Federal District Court in Los Angeles, CA, USA on the 22nd (local time) by Christopher Ahn, a participant in the 2019 raid on the North Korean embassy in Spain © News1 |
The time when the Free Joseon party arrived at the North Korean embassy was about 4:40 pm local time. The free Joseon party inside the embassy bound the employees and tried to “kidnap” Mr. A as planned, but in the meantime, a female employee walked out of the embassy through the window on the second floor and the situation reversed. Mr. Ahn explained, “No one saw the female employee exiting the embassy at the time.”
This female employee reported to the local police that “there was a commotion at the embassy,” and the embassy doorbell rang within less than an hour. According to Ahn, members of Free Korea at the time pretended to be embassy employees and sent the police back, but the phone ring in the embassy’s office continued to ring, and the embassy employees who were tied to it gradually fell into’panic’.
And after several hours had passed again, Mr. Hong informed Ahn that “Mr. A changed his mind. He said he would not escape from North Korea.” Prior to this, Mr. Ahn said, “We weren’t together” while Hong had a conversation with other Free Joseon members. According to Ahn’s statement, it seems that Hong and others persuaded Mr. A’s asylum until the end.
Ahn and Hong, as well as the free Joseon party, left the embassy by sharing the embassy vehicle and Uber vehicle at 9:4 pm.
Ahn was arrested and prosecuted by the FBI at the request of the Spanish authorities in LA in April 2019, two months after the incident, and was released after paying a bail of $1.3 million (about 1.45 billion won) in July of the same year. They are being tried for house arrest.
The Spanish side is demanding that Ahn be repatriated to their home country, but Ahn’s defense team refuses, saying, “It may pose a threat to life” if the recruits are handed over to Spain.
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| Christopher An photographed on a security camera video of the North Korean Embassy in Madrid, Spain on February 22, 2019 © Reuters = News 1 |
In fact, Ahn returned to the United States with Hong from Spain and explained the incident to FBI officials, and soon after, it was reported that the FBI side also warned that “there is reliable information that North Korean agents are aiming.” For this reason, when the FBI arrested Ahn, it was observed that it was for his personal safety.
Ahn was the only person arrested among the members of Free Joseon who participated in the raid on the North Korean embassy at the time. The lawyers insist that the case was made at the request of a North Korean diplomat Mr. A, so that no crimes related to illegal acts such as assault, robbery, or injury have been established for Ahn.
When Ahn heard the fact that he suffered a hand injury (a fracture of the right hand) at the time, he said, “I didn’t bind the embassy staff”, “I didn’t take a weapon (fake gun)”, “We didn’t hurt anyone.” It seems to be to emphasize this point. He also argued that the’resistance’ of the embassy staff at the time was due to North Korean surveillance cameras.
Regarding the fact that he served in the US Marine Corps in the past, Mr. Ahn said, “I have never received any special combat training other than basic training after enlisting in the Marine Corps. Media reports that I have combat expertise are different from the facts.” “When I was in a panic, it took me to calm down.”
Ahn served as a US Marine Corps from 2000 to 6, and is known to have been dispatched to Iraq from 2005 to 6 and worked as an analyst at Fallujah detention facilities. “I was involved in the mission of taking care of people in extreme tension and ensuring their safety in the Marine Corps,” said Ahn. “So even in Free Shipbuilding, I often took on the role of calming communicators and people.”
Ahn, who was usually interested in the issue of North Korean human rights, was introduced by a friend in 2009 to meet Hong, a leader of Free Joseon who was active as a North Korean human rights activist, and has worked with them to help North Korean defectors. Mr. Ahn also mentioned, “In my experience, there is no way that Mr. Hong forced someone to escape from North Korea or caused physical pain against the intention of the North Korean defector.”
Hong, the leader of Free Joseon, is known to have met a representative of a human rights organization helping North Korean defectors in Japan before and after the North Korean embassy incident, but the whereabouts are currently unknown.
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| North Korean Embassy in Madrid, Spain <자료사진> © AFP=News1 |