‘S Koreans spied for Seoul’

SEOUL: Two South Koreans awaiting trials in North Korea on espionage charges have admitted to spying for Seoul in interviews with CNN in Pyongyang conducted in the presence of North Korean minders.
The television news network said it had been unable to independently verify the accounts provided by the two men, who were interviewed separately in different rooms of a Pyongyang hotel on Sunday.
Although both Kim Kuk-Gi and Choe Chun-Gil claimed they had not been coerced or coached on what to say, CNN noted that their accounts were “strikingly similar”.
Foreigners arrested in North Korea have previously admitted to wrongdoings on camera or in writing, only to retract their statements following their release and return home.
North Korea announced the arrest of Kim and Choe in March, describing them as “heinous terrorists” who operated from a base in the Chinese border city of Dandong.
Both were accused of conducting an anti-North Korea “smear campaign” organised by US intelligence and the South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS).
The NIS has said the charge that the two men were working for the agency was “absolutely groundless”.
In his interview with CNN, Choe, 56, said he was working as a businessman in northern China when he was approached by the NIS to gather information and materials from North Korea.
He said he worked as a spy for three years before he was detained trying to obtain materials from inside North Korea, including some with military applications.
Kim, 61, said he was a missionary recruited by the NIS who paid him for information and to acquire new North Korean currency for forging purposes.