Koh Young-hwan, a former North Korean diplomat and special advisor to the Minister of Unification, delivered an analysis report to the Sankei Shimbun.
Koh Young-hwan, special assistant to the Minister of Unification, analyzed that North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un’s reappointment of former Labor Party secretary for South Korea Kim Yong-chol, a close associate who is known to have masterminded the sinking of the Cheonan and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, to a key position in the party may be plotting new terrorism against South Korea. .
The Sankei Shimbun reported on the 22nd that Goh Special Advisor, a former North Korean diplomat, made this point while writing an analysis report warning that the risk of North Korea carrying out terrorist attacks against South Korea is increasing, based on the testimony of former North Korean executives.
Former Secretary to South Korea Kim was Kim Jong-un’s closest associate who was in charge of diplomacy and external operations, including pre-negotiations for the North Korea-US summit in 2018, but his political status began to shake as the North Korea-US summit in Hanoi collapsed in 2019. After being effectively demoted to head of the Unification Front Department in 2021, he handed over the position of head of the United Front Department to his junior Lee Seon-kwon, and was also dismissed as a member of the Standing Committee, withdrawing from the front line.
However, in June of this year, he returned to the party’s Politburo as an advisor to the party’s United Front Department, which is in charge of policy toward South Korea, and is regaining influence. In North Korea, advisors are known to have enough influence to give instructions to agency heads.
Kim Young-cheol, who was the head of the Reconnaissance General Bureau of the intelligence agency, was pointed out as having led the sinking of the Cheonan in March 2010, which killed 46 people, and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in November of the same year. Sankei reported that South Korean and American authorities believe that it has carried out numerous cyber attacks on South Korea and the United States, including a cyber attack on a Sony U.S. subsidiary that produced a movie featuring the assassination of Kim Jong-un in 2014.
In his report, Special Advisor Ko analyzed that the background to Kim Young-chul’s repeated hard-line terrorist attacks was his ‘experience of success.’
Sankei said, “He (Kim Yong-chol), who had a bad family background, rose to prominence after Chairman Kim Il-sung liked his hard-line remarks during military talks with South Korea in the 1980s,” adding, “He was greedy for performance as the successor to National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-il due to the 2010 terrorist attacks against South Korea. “It is known that he succeeded in gaining Kim Jong-un’s trust,” the report said.
Special Advisor Ko predicted that there was a failure in negotiations with the U.S. and that Kim Jong-un may be planning provocations against South Korea that go beyond past levels to regain trust in Chairman Kim Jong-un. Special Advisor Ko explains that movements that can be seen as an influence of Kim Yong-chol’s reemergence, such as an increase in North Korea’s cyber attacks against South Korea, are being observed.
Special Advisor Ko said that Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel in particular also had an impact on North Korea. Special Advisor Ko analyzed that in addition to the surprise attack using paragliding, the tactic of using long underground tunnels for hiding or transporting troops may have been passed down from North Korea.
In relation to this, the National Intelligence Service reported to the National Assembly the prospect that “Kim Jong-un may reaffirm the usefulness of long-range artillery and the importance of preemptive surprise attacks as he confirms the Hamas surprise attack, and may increase his obsession with military adventurism.”
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.