'Defector worked as NK spy'

By Lee Kyung-min

The prosecution has indicted a North Korean defector on charges of working as an informant for diplomats from Pyongyang stationed in China, according to the Daegu District Prosecutors’ Office, Thursday.

The 45-year old woman, surnamed Kim, born in the North’s capital, provided information about 10 other North Korean defectors living in the South, the prosecution said.

Kim has been living in Gyeongsan, North Gyeonsang Province, since she defected to the South in 2011.

She allegedly began working for the North’s consular office in Shenyang in the fall of 2012. She insisted that she did so because she was told by the consular office that her family in the North was taken hostage, said the prosecution.

She allegedly received money from the office twice, from a “woman the consular office sent.”

The prosecution said that Kim allegedly attempted to return to the North in October last year by using a forged passport that she obtained from a Chinese broker.

She was arrested in July, and has since been held in custody.

If convicted, she could face a prison term of up to 10 years, the prosecution said.