A third North Korean man arrested re: Hwang Jang-Yop assassination

A third man has been arrested concerning the plot to assassinate top ranking defector from North Korea, Hwang Jang-Yop, a report said Saturday.

The man, whose family name is Han, was a former North Korean agent who has been living in South Korea since the 1960s, Yonhap news agency said, quoting prosecutors.

His arrest came after a South Korean court on Thursday handed 10-year prison sentences to two North Korean agents who posed as fugitives from the communist state in a bid to assassinate Hwang Jang-Yop.

Han was charged with seeking to trace Hwang's address in a plot to assassinate him, Yonhap said. He was said to have been recruited by North Korean agents in 2000, who helped him reunite his family members living in the North.

South Korea jails two North Korean assassins

A South Korean court has jailed two North Koreans for plotting to assassinate the highest-ranking defector to the South, Hwang Jang-yop.

Prosecutors had asked for 15-year sentences, but the court jailed the two men for 10 years each.

The two men, identified only as Kim and Tong, had admitted pretending to be defectors with a secret mission to kill Mr Hwang.

North Korea has denied the existence of any such plot.

The judge said a lesser sentence had been decided because the two men, both aged 36, came from a state where they had no choice but to do as they were told.

As soon as their fake identities had been exposed, the two men had cooperated fully with the investigation.

"The defendants admit all the charges, and testimony from other defectors and former agents verified their statements" about their identities and mission, said senior judge Cho Han-Chang. "Had the defendants succeeded in taking root here, they would have posed a very serious threat to Hwang's life."

Hwang Jang-yop was a very senior member of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party before his defection in 1997. He lives under heavy police protection at an undisclosed location in South Korea and has remained a harsh critic of Pyongyang.

Two Spies Held in Plot to Kill Senior North Korean Defector

Two North Korean agents who entered South Korea disguised as refugees, with plans to assassinate an octogenarian former secretary of the North Korean Workers' Party Central Committee, were arrested. The spies had orders to kill senior North Korean defector Hwang Jang-yop (87), prosecutors said Tuesday.

Arrested on Tuesday were Maj. Kim Myong-ho (36) and Maj. Tong Myong-kwan (36) on a warrant from the Seoul Central District Court.

According to prosecutors, Kim and Tong arrived in Yanji, China, crossed the North Korea-China border in November last year, met up with other North Korean agents and received mobile phones and operational funds at a liaison office of the Reconnaissance Bureau there. Afterward, they pretended to defect and traveled all the way to Thailand, were arrested by Thai police and handed over to the South Korean embassy. Deported from Thailand, they arrived in South Korea in January and February and were questioned by the NIS.

But their stories did not check out since both gave false names and places of birth. Under interrogation, they confessed to being spies. Prosecutors said the two admitted to having orders from Kim Yong-chol, the bureau director, to file a report about Hwang Jang-yop's activities including the location of his home, and to cut off his head. They were ordered to escape to the North Korean embassy in a third country and await further instructions if they failed to accomplish their mission.

Chosun Ilbo