Taken_LQ

persuaded four South Korean students to go to North
Korea. 51 He told how the four South Korean students were
flown from Copenhagen’s Kastrup Airport. This location
allowed Kim and his colleagues easily to meet the students,
give them North Korean passports, and fly them to Moscow,
East Berlin, or Beijing. Once the students arrived at these
locations, they were transferred to flights to North Korea.
The former North Korean operative observed, “if the
recruit was brought here to Kastrup Airport, that would
mean the abduction was already 98 percent successful.” 52
Keiko Arimoto, twenty-three years old at the time
of her abduction in 1983, was one of those flown to North
Korea from this airport under the guidance of a prominent
North Korean operative known to be Kim Yu-chol. 53
In 1982, Guinean student Aliou Niane was sent by
his government to go to North Korea to study agricultural
technology at Wonsan Agricultural University. This was
part of an educational exchange agreement reached between
Kim Il-Sung and Guinean President Ahmed Sekou Toure.
North Korea did not allow Aliou Niane to leave for five years. 54
Keiko Arimoto (above) and her
distraught parents
Many North Korean efforts to recruit or capture foreign citizens took place
in the former Yugoslavia. North Korea was allowed to open a consulate in Zagreb
because of Kim Il-sung’s close relationship with former Yugoslav President Josip
Broz “Tito.” The Zagreb consulate functioned as a base for North Korean spies like
Kim Yu-Chol, who worked for the KWP External Coordination Department, also
called “the Overseas Liaison Department.” Jordan Denich, a Yugoslavian diplomat
stationed at the Embassy in Pyongyang during the 1970s, explained:
“The DPRK was undertaking many activities in order to recruit foreign citizens,
primarily prominent South Koreans residing in Western Europe. At that time,
Yugoslavia was also open to the West. North Korea used Yugoslavia as a steppingstone
for the recruitment of South Koreans. However, the capital, Belgrade,
was heavily guarded and it was difficult for foreign diplomats to function due to
Yugoslavian surveillance. North Korea circumvented this surveillance with the
Consulate in Zagreb, a location that was not as closely watched and which was even
closer to destinations of interest, such as Austria and Italy.” 55
51
Ibid. 303
52
Ibid. 306.
53
Ibid. 306-307
54
Kiely, Jodi. “Memories of an African Student Forced to Study in North Korea during the 1980s.” One Free
Korea. 28 May 2009.
55
NHK. Yodo-go to Rachi (NHK Shuppan, 2004). 295-296.
This allowed North Korea to bring South Korean and other foreign nationals
into Yugoslavia without undergoing intense immigration scrutiny. 56 As mentioned
above, one of the most stunning examples of a failed North Korean abduction
attempt occurred in Zagreb on July 30, 1977.
North Korean Operatives Abducted A Movie Star and Her Director Husband
On January 11, 1978, South Korean actress Choi Eun-hee went to Hong
Kong at the invitation of Wang Dong-il, an executive of Kum Chung Productions, a
Chinese movie studio. The two had met the previous year in Seoul, and Wang had
proposed establishing a relationship between their studios’ acting schools. After
three days of meetings, shopping, and sightseeing as a guest of the studio, Choi was
introduced to a man named Lee Young-seng and a woman named Lee Sang-hee.
Ms. Lee met Choi for lunch on January 12 and said she would like to introduce her
to another friend afterwards. Choi agreed, and they drove to Repulse Bay where
there was a small white boat waiting on the beach. Lee spoke briefly with the men
in the boat, then turned to Choi and explained that the boat had been sent by her
friend to take them to his villa on the other side of the bay. Suddenly, the men leapt
from the boat and grabbed Choi, forcing her on board. She struggled, but was easily
overpowered. The boat pushed off, and headed for open sea. When she frantically
asked, “Where is this boat going?” she was told, “Madame Choi, we are now going
to the bosom of General Kim Il-sung.” 57
ACTRESS CHOI EUN HEE WAS ABDUCTED BY KIM JONG-IL HIMSELF
WHO MET HER ON ARRIVAL IN NORTH KOREA, JANUARY 22, 1978
“I arrived in North Korea around 3 p.m. on January 22, 1978. I shall never forget
the day. As I followed my captors I heard people whispering, “Someone important is
coming.” I didn’t care who was coming. It was none of my concern. I had been torn
away from my family and friends and brought to North Korea and would probably
never leave. Why should I care who was coming?
I walked with my head bowed. Someone was strutting toward me. I heard a man’s
burly voice.
“Thank you for coming, Madame Choi. I am Kim Jong-il.” I knew the name. The
South Korean press had been reporting for several years that the son of the North
Korean dictator Kim Il Sung was named Kim Jong-il and that he was being groomed
to be his father’s successor. He was called the “dear leader” and was one of the most
powerful men in that communist society, but he was a shadowy enigma to the rest
of the world because, strangely enough, even though he was being groomed as the
56
Ibid. 280-293.
57
Choi Eun-hee and Shin Sang-ok, Jogukeun Jeohaneul Jeommeolli (Kidnapped to the Kingdom of Kim Jong-
Il), Vol I. p 24.
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