SEOUL, South Korea — An outcast from North Korea’s ruling family was killed with a weapon believed to belong to North Korea’s chemical arsenal and several North Koreans are wanted for
In this photo, taken Oct. 5,1996, government officers carry a portrait and a coffin containing South Korean Choi Duk-kun, a South Korean diplomat stationed in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, upon the body’s arrival at Gimpo International Airport in Seoul, South Korea. Choi was found dead in front of his apartment in 1996. He had head wounds, but his passport and money were still in his pockets. (Photo by YUN JAI-HYOUNG/AP)
SEOUL, South Korea — An outcast from North Korea’s ruling family was killed with a weapon believed to belong to North Korea’s chemical arsenal and several North Koreans are wanted for questioning. But with Malaysia deporting the only North Korean it detained in the airport assassination of Kim Jong Nam, many in South Korea see the secretive, dictatorial regime in Pyongyang escaping punishment for another mysterious killing.
The government in Seoul and human rights groups say Pyongyang has for decades acted to silence its perceived enemies, sending assassins after South Korean government officials, North Korean defectors and anti-Pyongyang activists.
And yet North Korea often takes out the targets without leaving evidence that would indisputably prove its involvement, South Koreans say.
When suspicions were expressed, North Korea responded with silence or with wounded indignation. Some of the mysterious deaths suspected of being carried out by North Korea:
Choi (pronounced Chwey) Duk-kun, a South Korean diplomat stationed in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, just north of North Korea, was found dead in front of his apartment in 1996. He had head wounds, but his passport and money were still in his pockets.
South Korea is almost certain North Korea organized a hit job on the diplomat who had been monitoring the North.
