Foreign Affairs
Related: About this forumWho Ordered The CIA To Assault North Korea's Embassy In Spain?
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2019/03/who-ordered-the-cia-to-raid-north-koreas-embassy-in-spain.html
... El País reports (English):
Investigators from the Spanish police and National Intelligence Center (CNI) have linked an attack on the North Korean embassy in Madrid on February 22 to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
At least two of the 10 assailants who broke into the embassy and interrogated diplomatic staff have been identified and have connections to the US secret service. The CIA has denied any involvement but government sources say their response was “unconvincing.”
...
Investigators from the General Information Office (CGI) and CNI ruled out the idea that the attack was the work of common criminals. The operation was perfectly planned as if it were carried out by a “military cell,” said sources close to the investigation. The assailants knew what they were looking for, taking only computers and mobile phones.
...
Sources believe that the goal of the attack on the North Korean embassy was to get information on Kim Hyok Chol, the former North Korean ambassador to Spain.
The Spanish language version of the El País report has additional details (machine translated):
After analyzing the recordings of the security cameras in the area, questioning the hostages and analyzing the diplomatic vehicles used in the flight, it has been possible to identify some of the assailants. Although the majority were Koreans, at least two of them have been recognized by the Spanish information services for their links with the American CIA.
The indications that point to the US espionage service, in probable cooperation with that of South Korea, are so strong that Spanish interlocutors have contacted the CIA to ask for explanations. The response was negative, but "unconvincing", according to Government sources.
The Spanish version also includes a side-box with further details of the raid...
Original El País report (Spanish):
https://elpais.com/politica/2019/03/12/actualidad/1552422470_906307.html?id_externo_rsoc=TW_CC
Los responsables policiales y del Centro Nacional de Inteligencia (CNI) que investigan el asalto a la Embajada de Corea del Norte en Madrid el pasado 22 de febrero implican a la Agencia Central de Inteligencia (CIA) en ese oscuro episodio. Al menos dos de los 10 asaltantes, que golpearon e interrogaron a las ocho personas que estaban en la legación, han sido identificados y tienen vínculos con los servicios secretos estadounidenses. Interlocutores españoles han preguntado a la CIA por su implicación en el caso. La respuesta ha sido negativa, pero “poco convincente”... El asalto a la Embajada norcoreana puede acabar provocando roces diplomáticos entre Madrid y Washington. Fuentes gubernamentales admiten que, si la autoría de la CIA se confirma, se trataría de una actuación “inadmisible” por parte de un país aliado. No solo los servicios de inteligencia estadounidenses habrían operado en suelo español sin pedir autorización ni informar a sus anfitriones, sino que habrían violado las convenciones internacionales que protegen las legaciones diplomáticas...
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Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)El País adds:
... Además, a diferencia de otras acciones de los servicios de espionaje, como los ciberataques —que se caracterizan por su discreción y cuya autoría raramente puede acreditarse—, el asalto a la Embajada norcoreana fue especialmente violento...
ie.
Shell_Seas
(3,328 posts)Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)I guess.
zipplewrath
(16,646 posts)But it is possible that it was people who have worked FOR the CIA but aren't actual CIA personnel, but private contractors who work for other entities as well, and not all governmental ones.
SWBTATTReg
(22,059 posts)kind of agreement...perhaps rump is lashing out?
soryang
(3,299 posts)Korean analysts trying to put it in more polite terms for the thuggish actions of the criminal team that broke into the embassy and stole all the phones and laptops, after beating up and interrogating the employees there, they were looking for insights into his views and activities there.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)in what some might say looks like a limited hangout, "quoting people familiar with the planning and execution of the mission," that the group known as Cheollima Civil Defense, which also goes by the name Free Joseon, a "dissident organisation committed to overthrowing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un" was behind a raid on the North Korean embassy in Spain last month.
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-northkorea-dissidents/group-seeking-to-overthrow-kim-behind-north-korea-embassy-raid-in-spain-washington-post-idUKKCN1QW2ZN
soryang
(3,299 posts)It is definitely intelligence related.
soryang
(3,299 posts)자유조선 - Free Joseon
Published on Feb 28, 2019
https://bit.ly/2GPsSc5
자유 조선의 건립을 선언한다. 이 임시 정부는 인권과 인도주의를 존중하는 국가를 건설하기 위한 근간을 세우고 모든 여성과 남성, 아동의 존귀하고 분명한 존엄성을 존중한다. WE DECLARE ON THIS DAY the establishment of Free Joseon, a provisional government preparing the foundations for a future nation built upon respect for principles of human rights and humanitarianism, holding sacred a manifest dignity for every woman, man, and child.
It's part of a regime change framework evident in the current US administration's policies. The timing of their actions is definitely related to undermining the nuclear negotiations with the North Korean regime. Here is a link to their web post with an English translation of their Feb. 28 declaration:
http://cheollimacivildefense.org/post/2019-2-28_%EC%9E%90%EC%9C%A0%EC%A1%B0%EC%84%A0%EC%9D%84%EC%9C%84%ED%95%9C%EC%84%A0%EC%96%B8%EB%AC%B8_63626/
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)This group is of recent creation, then?
soryang
(3,299 posts)I saw the video on youtube about that time. I was following the international coverage of the death of Kim Jang Nam, Kim Jong Un's brother, closely at the time beginning on Feb 17, 2017. I'm posting the web link to a related web page below. The group went by Chollima Civil Defense back then, I don't recall them using the Free Chosun designation at that time. Maybe this website with the video of Kim's nephew has been edited more recently. One youtube post shows Free Chosun as the poster. I hadn't heard of them before that. The logo in March 2017 said Chollima Civil Defense, as far I recall. This is what the Aljazeera youtube shows. I don't know anything about this group's origins or activities before then.
Using Kim's nephew, Kim Han Sol like this is a monarchial blood line type claim to legitimacy which has deep roots in Korean culture. There have been at least two fictional dramas recently in South Korean broadcasting with a what if type plot, that is, what if South Korea, still had a Li Dynasty King and blood line, with all the attendant plots and intrigue familiar to followers of Korean dynastic history. It seems absurd to us as Americans, but this sort of thing still has appeal there. Kim Han Sol is the northern version of the sacred blood line claim to legitimate political rule. Ostensibly this was the reason his father was killed.
The video is there if one scroll's down the page. There is some English text as well.
http://www.cheollimacivildefense.org/post/2017-3-7_%EB%B6%81%EC%A1%B0%EC%84%A0%EC%82%AC%EB%9E%8C%EB%93%A4%EC%97%90%EA%B2%8C_25703/
This is the Aljazeera youtube:
soryang
(3,299 posts)...in the same location where the demonstrations for independence from Japan began in Tapsol Park, Seoul, one hundred years earlier, but one day early- the day US North Korean negotiations failed.
About the original Samil event- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1st_Movement
The declaration was read by an unidentified South Korean woman dressed in traditional hanbok with her face disguised. Unlike the reported 2 million people who participated in 1500 Samil demonstrations across Korea in 1919, no one showed for the Feb 28 event.
From the "Free Chosun" video:
