Korean Defector Had CIA Ties

By Maurice Williams, Militant Vol. 61, no. 34, 6 October 1997

The former north Korean ambassador to Egypt, Chang Sung Gil, who defected to the United States, was a C.I.A. mole, reported the September 29 issue of the Nation magazine. In fact, the CIA may have been courting this defection for a very long time, acknowledged Newsweek in a September 8 article. While it’s not clear when the agents landed [Chang], it was well before his defection, the article stated.

Washington’s spy agency stepped up it efforts to recruit diplomats of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) about two years ago, U.S. government officials reportedly admitted. CIA agents assisted the August 26 defections of Chang and his brother, who was a trade official at Pyongyang’s mission in Paris. The DPRK government broke off missile negotiations that were scheduled the next day.

North Korean deputy representative to the United Nations Li Gun called the Clinton administration’s provocations a grave insult that reflected hostility toward his country. Recent negotiations toward a formal end to the 1950 - 53 Korean War collapsed September 19 after Washington dismissed linking the talks with the withdrawal of its 37,000 troops from south Korea and sending food aid to north Korea.

The negotiations, known as four party talks, included the governments of north and south Korea, the United States, and China. In another provocation aimed at the workers states in China and north Korea, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Secretary of Defense William Cohen announced an agreement September 23 stating that Tokyo would provide support for U.S. military operations in the event of a military confrontation in the region. The pact also included enforcing economic blockades and coordination of defense policies and military postures. The U.S. State Department had announced in August that it had imposed new economic sanctions on north Korea.