By William Tucker
A North Korean defector has been sentenced to four years in prison for attempting to assassinate an anti-North Korean activist today. The court alleged that an individual identified only as An was paid by North Korea to use a poisoned needle to kill his target. An’s target was supposed to be Park Sang-hak, an activist known to fly balloons over the DMZ and into the North dropping leaflets condemning Pyongyang’s abusive government. Although this activist posed little threat to the North’s regime, he may have been targeted as a way to intimidate other activists in the South. The reasoning behind some of North Korea’s assassination attempts would seem to undermine rational statecraft, however Pyongyang is under so many sanctions that there appears to be little risk in attempting such an operation against one out of several thousand activists. On the other hand, targeting a head of state or government official would easily be construed as an act of war. Because of the North’s precarious position a conventional war is something to be avoided, but targeting an activist shows that Pyongyang can still run operatives in the South.
Dealing with defectors is risky business, especially on the Korean peninsula. This most recent case to makes its way through the South Korean courts is a prime example of the challenge defectors pose, and of the way North Korea entices, or blackmails, its former citizens to do a few favors for Pyongyang. North Korea likes to use defectors to the South because they have already been debriefed by Seoul’s intelligence apparatus, and they may have remaining ties to the North that can be exploited. In past cases, North Korea would threaten family members still in the North as leverage over defectors to the South. Of course, money is a powerful motivator as well, and that played a role in the recruitment of An. Furthermore, Pyongyang likely viewed the operation as low risk since the relationship between An and Park was distrustful to say the least. Regardless, North Korea still possesses a variety of covert means to leverage its position in negotiations with its neighbors. Missile launches and nuclear tests just happen to be an overt method of posturing that can easily be negotiated away at Pyongyang’s choosing.
Comments are closed.