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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Former N. Korean 'Military Interpreter' Held in Russia |
| 2010-12-16 |
| A man who says he was an interpreter for the North Korean military before he fled the Stalinist country is expected to make it to South Korea at last, the Kyodo news agency reported Tuesday citing an official at the UN High Commission for Refugees. The man, identified only as Choi (41), fled across the border to eastern Russia in September last year and applied for asylum there. A diplomatic source in Moscow said Choi left Vladivostok on Dec. 9 and is staying in a safe house in Moscow. It has not been decided when he will arrive in South Korea. According to Kyodo, Choi sneaked into the Russian Maritime Province of Primorsky Krai in September last year but was arrested by the Russians. In November he was sentenced to six months in prison for illegally entering the country. During the trial, Choi described himself as a staffer in an industry-related office in North Korea but later claimed that was his nominal title and he was in fact a Russian interpreter with the North Korean chiefs of staff. But a South Korean government official said Choi was an interpreter for a North Korean company tasked with earning hard currency. Choi told Kyodo the North Korean regime "makes people suffer. People are executed or sent to labor camps all the time, and most ordinary people are starving." He claimed he "wanted to contribute to changing the situation from outside." |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 PEOPLES DAILY FORUM > MOSCOW: THE NEW PLATFORM FOR [Inter-]KOREAN DIPLOMATIC WRESTLING, between DPRK + ROK ala Yeongpyeong Incident. Pyongyang fears China + PLA takeover of NOKOR either in War, or by LT natural economic forces c/o NEW SINO-DPRK FTA. BOTH KOREAS HAVE AN CORE = STRATEGIC INTEREST IN "HEDGING" BEIJING'S INFLUENCE + MIL THREAT WID MOSCOW'S> |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-12-16 21:10 |