Taken! - US Committee for Human Rights in North Korea

and killed Shoji and ordered the other two to board the North Korean spy vessel. 29Soto-o is said to have died in North Korea. Terakoshi was seen again 24 years laterhis abduction, in 2002, after the summit meeting between Prime Minister Koizumiand Kim Jong-il, when he was one of the Japanese allowed to visit Japan. He claimedhe had been “rescued” by North Korea and chose to return to North Korea.There Was A Failed North Korean Attempt To Abduct a Famous South KoreanPianist and His Actress Wife in 1977Actress Yoon Jung-hee and pianist Paik Kun-woo narrowly escaped anattempted abduction by North Koreans in Zagreb, Yugoslavia on July 30, 1977.Top-secret Croatian government documents confirming this event were released 26years after the incident occurred.The South Korean couple held their wedding in the Paris home of a notedpainter, Lee Ung-no, and when Lee’s wife, Park In-gyeong, told them that MichailPavlovic, a wealthy Swiss, wanted to hear Paik perform, Paik and Yoon flew to Zurich.Upon their arrival in Switzerland, Park’s secretary gave the couple an envelope witha name, address, directions, and 800 dinars and told them to fly to Zagreb, sayingthere was a change in Park’s schedule.At the airport, Yoon spotted an airplane bearing North Korea’s Air Koryologo parked in the runway and felt uneasy. She and her husband also saw an Asianwoman wearing sunglasses, and thought that was odd. It was uncommon for peoplein Yugoslavia to wear sunglasses at that time, and her short North Korean-style skirtwas out of place. The woman was later identified as Bang Hwa-jah, a North Koreanspy who was the wife of Lee Sang-chun, a third secretary at the North Koreanembassy in Vienna. He was in charge of communications between Zagreb andPyongyang for this mission.The South Korean couple was then driven to a villa that was guarded byYugoslavian police officers. Zagreb’s police chief had been given $30,000 to cooperatewith North Korean spies who were hiding inside the residence.When they arrived at the villa, the couple overheard people speaking withNorth Korean accents and grew more apprehensive. They fled and took a taxi to theU.S. embassy in Zagreb. Arriving at the embassy at 6:10pm they found the consulateclosed but found a library clerk who introduced them to vice consul Christensenwho, at age 32, had just taken the post in Zagreb. Christensen took the couple to thePalace Hotel where he was staying and got them a room. Around 6:40am the nextday, Paik called Christensen when there was a knock at their door. Christensen toldthem that three North Koreans were at the door. American personnel arranged forthe couple to escape to the lobby, and took them to the airport.29Ahn, Myong-jin. Shin Shougen Rachi (Kosaido Shuppan, 1998), 150.For the South Korean couple, the story ended happily. For the North Koreanswho had bungled the abduction, death came swiftly. In his book, Royal Families ofthe Daedong River: 14 years of Secret Travel in Seoul, Lee Han Young 30 recountedthat Lee Jang-ryong, deputy director of the North Korean spy agency called theKWP External Coordination Department, or “the Overseas Liaison Department,”told him that every North Korean spy who worked for him on the failed missionwas executed.North Korean Espionage Operatives Forcibly AbductedInnocent Foreigners on Orders from PyongyangAlthough it is rarely mentioned in Japanese Government publicationsthat deal exclusively with North Korea’s abductions of Japanese citizens, the 1974abduction of two children of a leader of the Chosen13-year old MegumiYokota was walkinghome from badmintonpractice at her highschool in Niigatawhen she was seizedby North Koreanoperatives.Soren would foreshadow the violent abductions ofJapanese in the latter part of that decade. In June,1974, two ethnic Korean children, seven-year-oldKo Kyong-mi and her three-year-old brother, KoKang, were abducted from their home in Saitama,Japan. 31 The police believe the children were firsttaken to Tokyo, where they were held captive forsix months, after which they were sent to NorthKorea on a North Korean spy ship that departedfrom northern Japan. 32The Japanese National Police Agency hadreason to suspect that their father was a NorthKorean agent. He operated a trading company thatmay have been a front for a North Korean spy operation. After three decades, in 2007,by which time Kim Jong-il had admitted that North Korea engaged in abductions,the police raided several offices and homes associated with the Chongryon whichthey believe were connected to the 1974 abduction. The police suspect the abductionwas carried out by colleagues of the children’s father, including a North Korean agentnamed Yoko Kinoshita (a.k.a. Hong Su-hye). It may be that the regime sought tocontrol their father by abducting his children. An arrest warrant for Ms. Kinoshitawas issued and she has been placed on an Interpol wanted list. 3330The nephew of Kim Jong-il who defected to Seoul through Switzerland in 1982, and was murdered by NorthKorean agents outside his apartment in Seoul on February 15, 1997.31“Suspected Abduction Case of Two Siblings.” Japanese National Police Agency document. Accessed: 14January 2011. Available at: http://www.npa.go.jp/keibi/gaiji1/abd_e/fukui_2_e.html32“Police Raid N Korea Agency in Tokyo.” Aljazeera News. 25 April 2007. Accessed: 14 January 2011. Availableat: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2007/04/200852514365022196.html33“Suspected Abduction Case of Two Siblings.” Japanese National Police Agency document. Accessed: 14January 2011. Available at: http://www.npa.go.jp/keibi/gaiji1/abd_e/fukui_2_e.html20 21