SEOUL—South Korea denied a claim by North Korea that it had arrested a spy sent by Seoul, while Christian groups said the person could be a missionary working inside the country.North Korean state media said late Thursday a South Korean intelligence agent was arrested in Pyongyang for espionage work aimed at rallying "dishonest elements" within North Korea and "undermining the stability of the social system."
The man "confessed he is a South Korean who intruded into Pyongyang after illegally entering the DPRK from a third country," the Korean Central News Agency reported.
A spokeswoman for the South Korean National Intelligence Service, Seoul's spy agency, said the report was
The North Korean report said the man had disguised himself as a "religionist," suggesting he could be a Christian missionary. Christian missionaries work near the Sino-North Korean border, often helping refugees escape North Korea's poverty and move to South Korea.
A clergyman in Seoul familiar with missionaries working in the border area said that the Christian community was working to verify the identity of the man. Human rights workers say some South Korean missionaries operate inside North Korea.
Pyongyang argues that nongovernmental groups including Christian missionaries are engaged in psychological warfare, disseminating information about the outside world and fomenting internal uprising.
Though North Korean state media have reported the arrest of a handful of foreign citizens in recent years, the announcement of an alleged intelligence agent's capture is unprecedented, according to Seoul's Ministry of Unification, which handles inter-Korean affairs.
Seo Jae-pyong, a North Korean defector and secretary general of an activist group based in Seoul, said there were instances of human rights workers or missionaries being caught at border towns but the reported presence of such a person in the North Korean capital was highly unusual.
"If it's true, it would be a shock to the regime," said Mr. Seo.
| Pyongyang is well organized in terms of a repressive city: think of Moscow, 1938. Block wardens, watchers everywhere, and so on. I'm a little surprised that anyone could get an agent in there for any length of time. If this story is really true perhaps Fat Boy's grip on power is looser than we've imagined. |
Mr. Bae remains in detention and is thought to be the longest-held American captive inside North Korea since the 1950-1953 Korean War.