National Intelligence Service ‘North Korean Defector Spy’ Removed From Frame After Seven Years

Supreme Court, Hong Kang-cheol on espionage charges confirmed “not guilty”Mr. Hong “Thank you for being bitter” … Lawyer “Explaining the late appeal ruling”Mr. Yoo Woo-sung concludes that he is not guilty, “anti-humanitarian state violence must be stopped.”

Hong Gang-cheol, 47, who had been tried for seven years as a direct spy in the North Korean Security Command, was finally released after being declared acquitted by the Supreme Court.

The second part of the Supreme Court (Chief Justice Ahn Cheol-sang) upheld the court case that dismissed the prosecutor’s appeal and pleaded not guilty in Hong’s appeal, who was handed over to trial for special purposes, special infiltration and espionage in under the National Security Law on the 24th. It has been 3 years and 8 months since the appeal judgment in October 2016. Previously, both the first and second trials sentenced Hong to innocence.

Hong is from Musan County, North Hambuk, and worked as a border guard on the North Korean-China border. Along with the mother and daughter of other North Korean defectors, he entered Korea after a month through China and Thailand. Suspected of being a spy, he was detained and investigated at the Joint Central Newspaper Center of the National Intelligence Service from September 2013 to January 2014. Following an investigation by the prosecution, he was handed over to trial in March 2014. The NIS and prosecutors said Hong was a spy for the North Korean Security Agency and did not abduct a North Korean broker from China.

The court did not recognize the ability to testify in the handwritten affidavit that Mr. Hong wrote twice at the Hapyeon Center and in the newspaper report prepared by the prosecutors calling Hong a suspect. The first trial read: “The Haphong Center investigation conducted between October 2013 and January 2014 was carried out without prior notice of the right to reject statements, although it was actually an investigation. Even at the investigation stage of the prosecution, it is not reliable evidence unless any of the notices, such as the right to reject statements and the right to assist attorneys, are not properly announced in advance. “The second referee said : “The fact that Mr. Hong made an affidavit (in the NIS) without the help of a public defender, and was told that he could bring his family members (who remained in North Korea) after for the NIS investigation to end. It could be crazy. ” The Supreme Court also followed the sentence of the first and second trials.

The Supreme Court ruling on four pages of A4 paper contained almost exactly what was revealed in the first and second trials. Lawyer Gyeong-wook Jang, who represented Hong, said: “The content is disappointing compared to the decision that took a long time. We need clarification responsible for the delay in the appeal trial.”

Defenders of the Security Command direct espionage case made a comment, saying, “After Yu Woo-sung (victim of the spy manipulation case of a public official in Seoul), Hong Kang-cheol’s acquittal of the espionage charge. “The NIS considers North Korean refugees suspected of possible violations of security law, blocks all contact and conducts detention investigations,” he said. Mr. Hong said, “Fortunately, he was innocent, but he was bitter after suffering for 7 years. I wanted to die because I thought the Supreme Court ruling was delayed and I could be destroyed and repatriated. I endured with the strength of my family ”. In addition, he said: “You can get help from a lawyer even if you only do it in the detention center, can you talk to the outside world and can you read the newspapers?” I will. “Hong is the representative of the North Korean defector group ‘Unification Matchmakers’ and runs the YouTube channel ‘Wagawalbu’.