[People familiar with the incident say the group did not act in coordination with any governments. U.S. intelligence agencies would have been especially reluctant to do so given the sensitive timing and brazen nature of the mission. But the raid represents the most ambitious operation to date for an obscure organization that seeks to undermine the North Korean regime and encourage mass defections, they say.]
By
John Hudson
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A
Spanish national police car is seen outside the North Korean Embassy in
Madrid
on Feb. 28. (Sergio Perez/Reuters)
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Days before President Trump was set to meet
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam, a mysterious incident in Spain
threatened to derail the entire high-stakes nuclear summit.
In broad daylight, masked assailants
infiltrated North Korea’s embassy in Madrid, restrained the staff with rope,
stole computers and mobile phones, and fled the scene in two luxury vehicles.
The group behind the late February operation
is known as Cheollima Civil Defense, a secretive dissident organization
committed to overthrowing the Kim dynasty, people familiar with the planning
and execution of the mission told The Washington Post.
The group’s alleged role in the attack has
not previously been reported, and officials from the governments of North
Korea, the United States and Spain declined to comment on it.
But in recent days, rumors have swirled about
the motivations behind the attack in the Spanish media, including a report in
El Pais alleging that two of the masked assailants have ties to the CIA.
People familiar with the incident say the
group did not act in coordination with any governments. U.S. intelligence
agencies would have been especially reluctant to do so given the sensitive
timing and brazen nature of the mission. But the raid represents the most
ambitious operation to date for an obscure organization that seeks to undermine
the North Korean regime and encourage mass defections, they say.
“This group is the first known resistance
movement against North Korea, which makes its activities very newsworthy,” said
Sung-Yoon Lee, a North Korea expert at Tufts University.
The identity of the assailants is a
particularly sensitive topic given the delicate nature of Trump and Kim’s
relationship.
Trump, who began his presidency by
threatening the annihilation of Kim and his country, has shifted to effusive
praise for the young leader as he tries to persuade him to give up his nuclear
program. But in the aftermath of the two leader's failed summit in Hanoi last
month, tensions have reemerged, with North Korea’s vice foreign minister
threatening on Friday to suspend the denuclearization talks.
Any hint of U.S. involvement in an assault on
a diplomatic compound could have derailed the talks, a prospect the CIA would
likely be mindful of. “Infiltrating a North Korean embassy days before the
nuclear summit would throw that all into jeopardy,” said Sue Mi Terry, a former
Korea analyst at the CIA. “This is not something the CIA would undertake.”
The agency declined to comment.
According to Spanish media reports, the
assailants tied up the embassy staff, put hoods over their heads and asked them
questions. They spoke in Korean and appeared to be Asian.
More than an hour into the raid, a woman
reportedly escaped, and her screams for help alerted a neighbor, who contacted
the police. When authorities arrived at the embassy, a man opened the door and
told them there was no problem. Moments later, the embassy gates opened, and
the assailants dashed out to two embassy cars and sped away, according to local
reports. The vehicles were abandoned and found on a nearby street.
Though the incident has attracted a flurry of
Spanish media attention, no police reports were filed by the embassy or the
victims, according to the reports.
Experts say the computers and phones seized
in the raid amount to a treasure trove of information that foreign intelligence
agencies are likely to seek out from the group.
“It could have contacts and documents related
to North Korea’s efforts to bypass sanctions and import luxury goods from
Europe, which was one of the key assignments for Kim Hyok Chol, the former
North Korean ambassador to Spain,” Lee said.
Recently, Kim Hyok Chol was reassigned as
North Korea’s point man for the nuclear negotiations with the United States,
making any information about his previous activities especially coveted by
foreign governments.
The assailants also possess a video recording
they took during the raid, which they could release anytime, said one person
who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive and
illegal operation.
The Cheollima group, which also goes by the
name Free Joseon, came to prominence in 2017 after it successfully evacuated
the nephew of Kim Jong Un from Macau when potential threats to his life
surfaced. The nephew was the son of Kim Jong Nam, the North Korean leader’s
exiled half brother who was assassinated in a nerve-gas attack in a Malaysian
airport in 2017. Kim Jong Nam was widely believed to have been killed by the
regime, making his son a likely target.
Members of the Cheollima group transported
Kim Han Sol out of Macau with the help of the governments of the United States,
China and the Netherlands, which provided travel and visa assistance, the group
told the Wall Street Journal in 2017.
For safety reasons, the leader of the group
does not disclose his name, and his identity is known only to a small group of
people.
In March, the group published a manifesto,
calling on North Koreans inside and outside the country to resist Pyongyang in
ways big and small.
“To those within the system who hear this
declaration: We call on you to defy your oppressors. Challenge them openly or
resist them quietly,” the declaration said. “To those of like-mind and
like-spirit of our diaspora: We call upon you to join our revolution.”
Since the attack on the embassy in Spain, the
group has asserted responsibility for the defacing of the North Korean Embassy
in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, on Monday. Authorities said four men who
wore hats and facemasks painted the graffiti. The group has not claimed
responsibility for the raid in Madrid.
“In its messaging, the group said they have
formed a provisional government to replace the regime in Pyongyang,” said
Terry, who is a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
in Washington. “They have now shown the seriousness of their intent and some capabilities
to carry out operations. We will see in the coming months the extent of their
capabilities.”
Shane Harris contributed to this report.
