The fate of two North Korean spies accused of stealing Soviet missile secrets
(Dan Tri) – Two North Korean spies who were discovered by Ukrainian security agencies to steal Soviet missile secrets 6 years ago are currently being re-educated in a Ukrainian prison.
North Korean spy Ri Tae-gil (Photo: NYT)
The journey falls into the cycle of labor
In July 2011, two North Korean spies disguised as members of the country’s trade delegation in Belarus broke into an old warehouse in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro and thought they were taking photos of a scientific report.
But that was just a trap that the Ukrainian security agency created to prevent missile secrets from being stolen.
Image cut from a video recording of a North Korean spy taking photos of documents (Photo: CNN/Youtube)
The video recently released by CNN showing two spies being caught in the act may show Pyongyang’s ambition to accelerate the progress of its medium- and long-range missile program by `learning
Ri and Ryu were arrested just days before the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il announced during a trip to Russia that Pyongyang was considering stopping missile production and nuclear weapons testing.
Although he knows Russian, a common language in North Korea, inmates said Mr. Ri is quite a quiet person.
But seemingly afraid of people misunderstanding North Korea, Mr. Ri said Pyongyang has been developing a missile program for 20 years and they have excellent engineers.
Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine Denys Chernyshov described Ri and Ryu as `very well trained and real spies.` He said that during their 6 years in prison, the two North Korean spies never received or sent letters to their families.
Doubts surrounding North Korea’s nuclear program
After a series of failed tests of the Musudan medium-range missile, Pyongyang last year achieved unexpected success.
To find a reasonable explanation for Pyongyang’s mysterious success, many experts have said that the cause comes from Ukraine, specifically the Yuzhmash missile factory and Yuzhnoye design bureau in Dnipro, where Ri and
Ukraine has denied the above accusations, releasing evidence of the arrest of the two spies to prove that Ukraine is determined to prevent North Korea from stealing missile secrets.
Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency said it has been tracking technology theft plots for years.
The future is uncertain
Mr. Ri Tae-gil’s prison cell (Photo: NYT)
It is expected that in September 2018, Mr. Ri and Ryu will be released from prison.
Mr. Ryu, who is held in a re-education facility next to Mr. Ri’s prison in Zhytomyr, made it clear he did not want to be interviewed.
Mr. Ri, on the contrary, has a more open attitude than Mr. Ryu.
Lord Emperor
According to the New York Times