NK claims defector group tried to have founder`s statues blown up

North Korea has claimed that a South Korean group instigated North Korean defector Jeon Yong-cheol to destroy the statue of the North’s founder Kim Il Sung.

A group of defectors in South Korea whose name is roughly translated into English as the “Statue-breaking Group” was founded in October 2010 by Kim Seong-min, a former North Korean colonel who defected to South Korea. Kim also leads the South Korea-based group North Korean People’s Liberation Front, which has reportedly set up six branches in the same number of North Korean provinces.

The Statue-Breaking Group did not hesitate to unveil its name, saying letting North Koreans know about its existence gives it hope.

South Korean experts on the North, however, are skeptical about the group’s claim that it tried to blow up Kim Il Sung`s statues.

A former North Korean soldier who defected to South Korea said he once planned to attack the birth house of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in 2008 but gave it up due to strengthened security and the difficulty of smuggling explosives into the North. “The Statue-breaking Group is more like a congenial club and rarely has any activity,” he said.

Kim Yong-hwa, head of the North Korean Human Rights Association of (South) Korea, also said defectors’ activities in the North has been significantly reduced due to stronger border security following China’s repatriation of North Korean escapees and the arrest of a South Korean human rights activist, adding, “It`s hard to believe that the group attempted to blow up the statues via China at such a sensitive time.”

Others say Pyongyang is highly likely to have fabricated the incident to justify making a provocation against Seoul. In September 2007 and December 2008, the North also claimed that it discovered acts of terrorism against it.

In Seoul, the South Korean Unification Ministry said Friday that Jeon was a defector who lived in the South. A ministry spokesman said Jeon was registered as a 53-year-old defector when he arrived in the South in November 2010. “Immigration records also show that Jon left for China on May 5," the spokesman added.

shcho@donga.com