Ex-Agent to North Korea Suing Japan

On November 22, Kenki Aoyama, the former agent who escaped out of North Korea, reportedly said, “It is unfair not to recognize North Korean defectors as refugees,” and filed a suit at the Tokyo District court against the Japanese government asking for the recognition of North Korean defectors as a refugee, according to Japanese news outlets.

He requested the Japanese government to pay him 3.2 billion yen (about 25.6 billion won) for handing over sensitive information relating to North Korea’s nuclear program to the Japanese foreign affairs ministry.

Aoyama is a Korean resident born in Japan. After entering into North Korea in 1960 when Japan repatriated Korean Japanese, he worked as an agent in North Korea, the Kyoto Press reported.