North Korea referred to as on Spain to conduct a radical investigation into a raid on its mission in Madrid, which was mentioned to be carried out by FBI-linked dissidents, now hiding in the US.
Pyongyang requested Spain to research the “grave terrorist attack” and “flagrant violation of international law,” state-run KCNA information company reported. “This kind of act should never be tolerated,” the assertion learn.
It was the primary time North Korean officers have commented on the mysterious break-in at its mission in Madrid on February 22. A gaggle of intruders subdued and tied up the employees earlier than stealing quite a few digital units and a trove of paperwork from the constructing. They additionally reportedly tried to influence a North Korean attaché to defect. A video, allegedly filmed in the course of the break-in, shows males taking down portraits of North Korean leaders and smashing them on the bottom.
Spanish media say that 10 suspects fled to the US and a courtroom in Madrid issued arrest warrants towards them. The chief of the group was named as veteran dissident and anti-Pyongyang activist Adrian Hong Chang, who’s a Mexican nationwide and a US citizen. Two of the opposite suspects have been named as US nationals.
An sudden twist got here a number of weeks later when the Spanish paper El Pais cited courtroom paperwork and police sources as saying that the suspects tried to acquire info on the North Korean nuclear program and contacted the FBI after arriving in the US.
The particulars have been partially confirmed by dissident group ‘Cheollima Civil Defense / Free Joseon’, which claimed duty for the raid. Its members shared “certain information of enormous potential value” with the FBI, on the Bureau’s request, the group claimed on its web site.
The US has denied any involvement with the break-in, and the FBI has refused to remark on the incident.