By Kim Da-ye
Prosecutors sought an arrest warrant for a key suspect Friday as part of investigations into the alleged fabrication of documents presented as evidence in an espionage case.
The prosecution filed for the arrest of a 61-year-old civilian informer for the National Intelligence Service (NIS), surnamed Kim, on charges of forging a “private” document.
The Seoul Central District Court will review the request on Saturday at 10:30 a.m.
Kim was taken in to custody Wednesday from Yeouido St. Mary’s Hospital where he was treated for a self-inflicted wound on his neck made during a suicide attempt last week. In order to detain and question him longer, prosecutors had to obtain an arrest warrant.
Kim’s testimony to the prosecution and suicide note that openly criticized the NIS have been crucial in exposing the potential systematic complicity of the spy agency in the document forgery allegation.
Kim is suspected of providing the NIS with a Chinese border authority’s documents detailing the travel records of Yu Woo-sung, an ethnic Chinese man who came to the South as a North Korean defector and was later accused of spying for Pyongyang.
He gave them to a covert NIS officer known as “Mr. Kim,” who then passed them on to Lee In-chul, an NIS official stationed at the Korean consulate in Shenyang, northeastern China. Lee gave the documents to the prosecution who then submitted them in an appeal hearing against Yu who had been acquitted of the espionage charge by a lower court.
Local media outlets have alleged that Kim was a civilian informer for “Mr. Kim” who paid for his services.
Some observers are speculating that he may be a double agent with ties to the Chinese intelligence community, judging from his testimony against the NIS. He is known as the “North Korean defector with Chinese nationality” although it is difficult for North Koreans to obtain Chinese nationality.
In his suicide note, Kim said Yu was definitely a spy for the North.