U.S. arrests former Marine connected to North Korea embassy raid in Spain
U.S. authorities have arrested a former U.S. Marine who is a member of a group that allegedly raided the North Korean embassy in Madrid in February and stole computers, two sources familiar with the arrest said on Friday.
On Thursday, federal authorities arrested Christopher Ahn, a former U.S. Marine and a member of Free Joseon, a group dedicated to the overthrow of North Korea’s Kim Dynasty. He appeared in a federal-district court in Los Angeles on Friday where his attorney requested that the case be sealed. The court ruled in the attorney’s favor over the government’s objections, a Justice Department spokesman said.
Separately, federal agents raided the apartment of Adrian Hong, the leader of Free Joseon, said people familiar with the incident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive law enforcement issue.
The group asserted responsibility for the raid on the embassy last month after a judge in Spain lifted a secrecy order in the case and accused Hong and two other men of participating in the incident as a part of a 10-member group.
The judge, Jose de la Mata, said evidence of various crimes had been found, including trespassing, threats, illegal detentions and burglary committed by a “criminal organization.” The judge said one of the men later shared material stolen from the embassy with the FBI.
The March statement by Free Joseon, also known as the Cheollima Civil Defense (CDC) group, pushed back against Spanish media reports that the group beat and gagged embassy staff.
“All occupants in the embassy were treated with dignity and necessary caution,” the group wrote. It also claimed that “no other governments” were aware of the raid until after it occurred. Initial media reports in Spain alleged that the CIA was involved.
State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said Tuesday that the U.S. government had nothing to do with the incident.
The group’s description of events could not be independently confirmed, but attorney Lee Wolosky said his client can verify its acｃount, including that the Free Joseon members were invited into the embassy.
The dissident group, believed to include high-profile North Korean defectors, said it had orchestrated the February 22 embassy raid to highlight illicit activities rampant in North Korea’s foreign missions. The CCD said after the raid it had shared certain information potentially having “enormous intelligence value” with the FBI in the United States.
The raid came just days before a high-stakes nuclear summit in Vietnam between Kim and US President Donald Trump that ultimately failed to reach an accord.
The Spanish court is seeking the group member’s extradition.
In a statement to The Washington Post, Hong’s lawyer, Lee Wolosky, said he was “dismayed that the U.S. Department of Justice has decided to ｅxecute warrants against U.S. persons that derive from criminal complaints filed by the North Korean regime.”
“The last US citizen who fell into the custody of the Kim regime returned home maimed from torture and did not survive,” he said, referring to Otto Warmbier, a U.S. college student who was imprisoned in North Korea in 2016 and died shortly after being flown back to the United States in a coma in 2017.
“We have received no assurances from the US government about the safety and security of the US nationals it is now targeting,” Wolosky said in the statement.
A Justice Department spokeswoman noted that “extradition treaties generally provide that an individual who has been extradited to another ｃountry to face criminal charges cannot thereafter be extradited to a third ｃountry without the consent of the original ｃountry.” [In other words, if the U.S. allows the men to be extradited to Spain, they cannot then extradite them to North Korea with the consent of the U.S.]
North Korea’s foreign ministry denounced the incident a “grave terrorist attack” demanding an investigation into the perpetrators. The foreign ministry accused the FBI for being partially behind the raid. The U.S. State Department has said Washington had nothing to do with it.
The CCD — which offers to assist people attempting to defect from North Korea — emerged in 2017 when it posted an online video of the son of the North Korean leader’s assassinated brother, saying it had guaranteed his safety.
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Article Source: https://www.studentnewsdaily.com/daily-news-article/u-s-arrests-former-marine-connected-to-north-korea-embassy-raid-in-spain/
Vocabulary:
1. dedicate / verb : to set apart and consecrate to a deity or to a sacred purpose:
2. raid / verb : to steal from; loot:
3. assert / verb : to state with assurance, confidence, or force; state strongly or positively; affirm; aver:
4. detention / noun : maintenance of a person in custody or confinement, especially while awaiting a court decision.
5. dignity / noun : bearing, conduct, or speech indicative of self-respect or appreciation of the formality or gravity of anoccasion or situation.
6. dissident / adjective : disagreeing or dissenting, as in opinion or attitude:
7. illicit / adjective : not legally permitted or authorized; unlicensed; unlawful.
Questions:
1. The first paragraph of a news article should answer the questions who, what, where and when. List the who, what, where and when of this news item. (NOTE: The remainder of a news article provides details on the why and/or how.
2. What is Free Joseon?
3. How do they explain their motive for taking computers from the North Korean Embassy in Spain?
4. What evidence did the Spanish judge in charge of the case say there is against the men?
5. How does Free Joseon’s explanation of what occurred differ from the evidence the judge got from the North Korean embassy?
6. What did the men do with the material they took from the North Korean embassy? What was it?
