Jang Min-ho Admits to ‘Ilsimhoe-Contact with North Korea’

Jang Min-ho Admits to ‘Ilsimhoe-Contact with North Korea’. December. 29, 2006 07:20. will71@donga.com wiseweb@donga.com.

Jang Min-ho (44), who was apprehended on charges of creating the pro-North group “Ilsimhoe,” admitted in court that he created the organization and contacted North Korean officials.

In the second round of the first hearings conducted by the 25th criminal division of the Seoul Central District Court (presided by Judge Kim Dong-o) on December 28, Jang said, “After creating a private unification project group in January 2002, it is true that we used the name Ilsimhoe for convenient reasons.”

On contact with North Korean agents, he said, “I didn’t know they were part of the espionage, but I have met North Korean officials.”

The prosecution asked, “Have you received reports that Sohn Jung-mok and Lee Jung-hoon contacted Choi of the Democratic Labor Party and two leaders of the regional committee members,” whereupon he stated, “We have had discussions on this.”

But Jang stated that he did not ‘report’ South Korea’s secrets with the directives of the North, but ‘transmitted’ the relevant information to the North, and most had already been reported on the media.

On the prosecution’s questioning of whether Jang arranged meetings between the North Korean spies and Ilsimhoe members Son Jung-mok, Lee Jung-hoon, and Lee Jin-gang, also apprehended with Jang, he avoided the question by saying, “I don’t remember.”

While exchanging e-mails with the North, Jang expressed Ilsimhoe (One Heart Society) as a ‘Valentine Club,’ and it was found that he also expressed the information: ‘let’s meet for business purposes’ to ‘I’ll wait for the birthday party.’

Conservatives such as the group ‘Hwalbindan’ held demonstrations in front of the Seoul Central District Court before the hearings, and attempted to enter the court waving the South Korean national flag, and struggled with court security.

Though slight confusion arose when they shouted profanity at the lawyers defending Jang before the hearings, no conflicts arose between the conservative and progressive groups.