South Sent Thousands of Spies Into North

The admission by a ruling party lawmaker that South Koreans spies were sent to North Korea following the 1950-1953 Korean War is expected to have a significant impact on inter-Korean dialogue.
On Wednesday, Kim Seong-ho of the Millennium Democratic Party revealed a list of the names of 366 of the 7,726 South Korean agents he says were caught or disappeared while operating in the North up until 1972. He says the army has records of their personal details.
The disclosure of the list is expected to lead to rising demands for compensation and state payments from the families of the agents.
According to Rep. Kim, only about 100 of the secret servicemen? family members have received state payments since early 1998.
It was thought to be the first time the names of agents and details of their activities have been revealed, confirming long-held suspicions that Seoul engaged in intensive espionage activities against Pyongyang soon after the Korean War.
Until now, Seoul has neither acknowledged nor denied that spies were sent to the North.
The Ministry of Defense said on Friday that compensation had been paid to only 12 close relatives of the agents, contradicting Rep. Kim? statement.
The government has said only families of spies in service before 1959 are eligible to receive compensation.
?n accordance with the law, we have compensated families of the agents who were sent to the North for espionage activities before Dec. 31, 1959,O a defense ministry official said over the phone.
Rep. Kim, saying that he disclosed the names of the spies to shed light on the plight of those who risked their lives for their country, said the secret agent issue should be tackled as soon as possible along with the issue of missing South Korean POWS and abducted citizens.
He also emphasized that the government should revise the laws and regulations regarding compensation for veterans and patriots so that their family members could receive state assistance --- as the families themselves have previously argued.
?hese people sacrificed their lives for the government when South Korea was going through difficult times,O said one family member of a man now identified as an agent.
However, analysts said it would be difficult for the government to revise the law that dictates that only relatives of agents serving before 1959 can be compensated.
That, the analysts said, was because it would be an official acknowledgment that the government conducted intelligence-gathering operations across the peninsular border --- clearly violating the armistice that was signed by the two countries in 1953.