Song admits to North link

Former South Korean exile and German scholar Song Du-yul has admitted to joining the North Korean Workers’ Party in 1973 and traveling to the North at Pyeongyang’s expense, his lawyer said yesterday.
Mr. Song left the South to study in Germany in 1967, but was banned from returning after launching a political organization against Park Chung Hee’s military dictatorship in 1972.
He also allegedly held another identity in North Korea ― Kim Chul-su, a member of the Politburo of the North’s governing Workers’ Party. The assertion was made by Hwang Jang-yop, a defector and former secretary of the party, in 1998.
Three years later, a South Korean court ruled the allegation lacked evidence.
Mr. Song returned to Korea last week for the first time in 36 years. The National Intelligence Service investigated him and then handed his case over to the Seoul District Prosecutors Office yesterday.
The 15-year statute of limitations has expired on the allegation that Mr. Song joined the North Korean party in 1973.
Mr. Song, however, was suspected of becoming a Politburo member of the party sometime between 1991 and 1994.
If that is substantiated, he could still be subject to prosecution.
Kim Hyeong-tae, Mr. Song’s lawyer, briefed the press last night on his client’s questioning by intelligence agents.
He said Mr. Song had submitted a letter to the National Intelligence Service stating his intention to respect South Korea’s laws.
But he denied Mr. Song’s alleged activities as a Politburo member of the North Korean Workers’ Party.
“When Mr. Song first visited the North in 1973, he was asked to sign an application to the Workers’ Party at the airport along with immigration control documents, and he did,” Mr. Kim said. “But he has never participated in party affairs actively since then.”
“Visiting the North about 10 times, Mr. Song received some travel expenses from the North, but it was only several hundred dollars ― not a large sum for alleged espionage.”
Mr. Kim also asserted Mr. Song was no longer a member of the North’s governing party.

by Kim Won-bae