North Korean Spies In The U.S.? Defectors Reveal Startling Secrets

CNN recently conducted interviews with two former North Korean agents, revealing, among other things, that hundreds of spies are working in the United States at any given time.

The two men, Kim Dong-Shik and Kang Myong-Do, talked about their lives in espionage for North Korea.

Kim says he was first recruited in high school and received years of specialized training, everything from martial arts to scuba diving to rigging explosives, before going on his first mission.

“When I was told I was going to be a spy… I felt stunned. There have been many accidents in the past with spies. A lot who were sent to South Korea were killed, so I assumed I’d die.”

Psychological training was key for the North Korean spies.

“We were taught to be ready to die for the Kim regime and if caught, to make sure we were not taken alive.”

For Kim, that’s exactly what happened.

In 1995, South Korean officials shot the spy while he was on a mission. Unable to commit suicide, the North Korean regime executed his entire family for the failure.

As for Kang Myong-Do, he was a North Korean elite serving in the Unification Development Division in 1984. One of his duties was to send North Korean spies to the U.S., South Korea, and Japan.

He estimates that, in the U.S., there are hundreds of agents operating at a time. Their primary mission is recruiting Korean-Americans with sympathetic views. That was one of Kim’s missions as well, although his first mission was to retrieve another high-ranking agent.

Kang explained some of the tactics used to entice Koreans to the North’s side.

“There are three different tactics they use. First is to give them free visas to North Korea, second, to give them access to do business and make money there and third, they use women to entice them. This tactic has been widely used since the ’80s.”

Both of the men believe that spies are essential to the North Korean regime, which is why they receive rock star like treatment as Kim explained.

“Spies are treated on the same level as generals; their education is to a similar high level. So it’s fair to say North Korea considers spies as very important.”

North Korean spies have had many startling successes in the past.

The Telegraph reported in February that a panel of experts exposed two agents placed in U.N. organizations. One of them, Kim Su Gwang, served as a civil servant in the World Food Program, which provides North Korean women and children with food.

Expert Joshua Stanton explained that the spy’s presence suggested that the regime was trying to manipulate the program despite the constant risk of starvation for millions of Koreans. It’s not clear if it succeeded or not.

The other agent had infiltrated the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO); to what end is also unclear.

In some cases, espionage from the North can be deadly, like in 1987 when spies blew up an airliner killing 115 people. The BBC reports that one of the agents in that mission was captured alive and received a presidential pardon. She now speaks out against the regime.

For the North Korean spies in the U.S., and elsewhere, they still live under a tight grip, even from thousands of miles away.

[Image Credit: Getty Images]