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| A prosecutor gives a press briefing at the Suwon District Court, May 10. Yonhap |
Prosecutors on Wednesday indicted four former officials of South Korea's biggest umbrella union, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), on charges of using labor activities as a cover for espionage at the instruction of North Korea.
The Suwon District Court indicted the four former senior KCTU officials, aged 54, 52, 51 and 48, respectively, under physical detention on charges of espionage, communicating and meeting with North Korean spies and other violations of the National Security Act. The identities of all of them have been withheld.
The four allegedly formed an underground organization with an aim to gain control of the labor union and spearheaded labor protests on key political and social issues all at the instruction of North Korea, according to prosecution investigations.
Adopted in late 1948 amid the Cold War, the National Security Act criminalizes praising or propagating activities of "anti-state" organizations or their members, notably from North Korea. Producing or possessing "enemy-benefiting" materials is also punishable under the law.
Of those indicted, the 52-year-old man who served as a senior organization official at the KCTU is suspected of contacting three North Korean spy agents in Cambodia in September 2017 and meeting another North Korean agent in China in September 2018 to receive instructions regarding activities in South Korea.
From late 2018 to late last year, he was allegedly given written instructions from North Korea on a total of 102 occasions and collected information regarding elections for the top KCTU leadership and photo images of the American military base in Pyeongtaek, Air Force facilities in Osan and other military equipment.
The other three men are also accused of meeting North Korean secret agents in Cambodia or Vietnam in 2017 or getting instructions from the North Korean side.
The Cultural Exchange Bureau under North Korea's United Front Department, which handles issues with South Korea, was found to have been in charge of commanding the four men, prosecution officials said.
Working for North Korea, the four had allegedly tried to win other key KCTU figures over to their side and bring the labor union under their control. They are also accused of staging anti-U.S. and anti-Japan protests after getting instructions from the North to "take advantage of public resentment ... to have the public explode in anger."
The prosecution, the National Intelligence Service and the National Police Agency together seized 90 written instructions by North Korea in the probe into the case, and some of them ordered the collection of data for the purpose of paralyzing the electricity supply to Cheong Wa Dae and other main state institutions. Collection of other secrets regarding the Navy's 2nd Fleet Command and other power supply facilities was also demanded.
All of the four indicted are denying their charges and refusing to speak in prosecution investigations. (Yonhap)
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