Plane Bomber Believes N.Korea's Kim Ordered Ship Sinking

Seoul (News Today) - A former North Korean agent — who claimed she bombed a South Korean airliner in 1987 on orders from Kim Jong-Il — says she believes the North’s leader also ordered the sinking of a South Korean warship. Kim Hyun-Hee, who was sentenced to death but later pardoned for her role in blowing up the plane with the loss of 115 lives, was quoted by the Monthly Chosun, a magazine published by Chosun Ilbo newspaper.

“No big incidents like this can happen without informing Kim Jong-Il,” the ex-agent, who now lives under guard in South Korea, was quoted as saying.

“Although the planning and preparation would have been done by the military, final confirmation must come from Kim.” Crosss-border tensions have risen sharply since the South — citing the findings of a multinational investigation — accused its neighbour of torpedoing the warship in March with the loss of 46 lives.

The North, which denies involvement, has threatened military retaliation if the UN Security Council censures it over the veas Seoul wants. Kim said people who refuse to accept the investigation results are “afraid of the truth that North Korea did it, and they just don’t like it”. She said the North still denies involvement in the bombing of the Korean Air flight in 1987.

“It thinks constantly denying something will make it go away. The Cheonan (warship) sinking made me realise that North Korean strategy hasn’t changed.” The former agent said the North detonated the plane bomb when the flight was over the ocean to destroy the evidence.

“Trying to drop the plane into the deep sea to erase all the traces, and trying to destroy all the evidence by attacking a submarine with a torpedo... it’s all the same.”

The South, she said, “should take a hardline policy against terrorists to prevent these things from happening again”. The plane was en route from Baghdad to Seoul via Bangkok when it blew up over the Andaman Sea.

Two North Korean agents had boarded in Baghdad and got off during a stopover in the Gulf after leaving a time bomb in an overhead compartment. They were arrested when they tried to leave Bahrain using fake Japanese passports. Both immediately swallowed cyanide capsules. The man died almost instantly but Kim survived.

She was brought to Seoul, where she confessed and alleged that Kim Jong-Il had personally overseen her mission. After her reprieve, Kim published a book entitled “Tears of My Soul” describing her training at a North Korean spy school. She donated the proceeds to families of victims of the bombing.

Source : kompas

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