Defector freed from special guard

The National Intelligence Service yesterday lifted its special protection of Hwang Jang-yop, the most senior North Korean official to defect to the South. That opened the way for Mr. Hwang to accept invitations to speak in the United States on human rights in North Korea.
Seoul has been reluctant to allow Mr. Hwang to travel abroad, citing the possibility that he would be targeted for assassination by North Korean agents. But the defector’s outspoken criticism of North Korea has also caused unease in both the Roh and earlier Kim administrations, which are trying to lower tensions with Pyeongyang. Earlier this month, in his first public appearance here, Mr. Hwang called North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-il, a coward who would not know what to do with nuclear weapons if he had them.
The intelligence agency, which has guarded Mr. Hwang since his defection in 1997, said yesterday that it is turning over his protection to the police and “releasing him to society.” The decision to visit the United States is his own to make, the agency said in a statement. But the government continues to be concerned about the visit because of what it called the possibility of “negative effects on the situation on the Korean peninsula with tension created by the North Korean nuclear problem.”
The U.S. State Department has said that it would ensure Mr. Hwang’s security during a U.S. visit.
The agency also ended its special protection of Kim Tok-hong, a former president of a North Korean trading company, who also defected in 1997.

by Kim Young-sae