By Lee Kyung-min
Three South Korean men have been indicted for producing methamphetamine in North Korea with the help of a North Korean spy, the prosecution said Sunday.
Two of the three suspects were also charged with plotting to murder anti-Pyongyang advocates, including Hwang Jang-yup, the highest-ranking North Korean defector, before Hwang died of a heart attack in 2010.
The prosecution said that it discovered the case after securing testimony from a former North Korean spy.
“This is the first time that we have obtained hard evidence that the North is resorting to drug production to earn foreign currency,” a prosecutor said.
The three men ― surnamed Kim, 63, Hwang, 56, and Bang, 69 ― are suspected of producing a total of 70 kilograms of methamphetamine from June to July in 2000 in North Korea’s Hwanghae Province.
Half of this amount is believed to have been delivered to North Korean authorities, but how it was sold is unknown, said the prosecution.
The rest was given to the three, but they failed to make a profit reportedly due to a failure to secure dealers, the prosecution said.
The three came into contact with the North in 1996 through a broker surnamed Lee, who died in 2004.
Lee introduced the three, all of whom had convictions on drug charges, to a North Korean spy.
The spy took them to North Korea and helped them produce the drug, prosecutors said.
They brought the necessary machines in China and transported them using a rubber boat across the Yalu River.
In addition, two of the suspects were directed by the North to assassinate anti-North Korea figures.
Kim reportedly met with officials from the North more than ten times for one year until 2009 to kill Hwang Jang-yup, the former secretary of the North’s Workers’ Party, in September 2009.
The plot, however, was voided in 2010 when Hwang died of heart failure, the prosecution said.
Among the three suspects, Hwang received direction from the North in April 2004 to launch a similar attack on German human rights activist and professor, Nobert Vollertsen.
The North later rescinded the plan for fear of possible diplomatic problems, the prosecution said.