• Burmese
Saturday, June 14, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
25 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Declassified Files Show Seoul Suspected North Korean Hand in Death of Burmese Student

Seamus Martov by Seamus Martov
April 21, 2017
in News
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0 0
A A
Soldiers hold weapons while sitting on a vehicle carrying rockets as it drives past the stand with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of the country's founding father, Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang, April 15, 2017. / Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Soldiers hold weapons while sitting on a vehicle carrying rockets as it drives past the stand with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of the country's founding father, Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang, April 15, 2017. / Damir Sagolj / Reuters

9.1k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

A diplomatic dossier recently declassified by the South Korean government indicates that Seoul suspected that the daughter of a Burmese judge who sentenced a north Korean agent to death for his role in an assassination attempt on dictator Chun Do Wan during a state visit to Burma in 1983, was herself killed in revenge by Pyongyang.

Among the 230,000 pages of declassified documents is a December 1986 diplomatic cable from South Korea’s then Ambassador to Geneva, Lee Sang-ok that was sent following a meeting with his Burmese counterpart, U Thein Tun, to discuss the suspicious death of the judge’s daughter while she was studying in Japan in 1985.

“It was a case that we could not get to the bottom of. Hints of North Korean cigarettes were found at the scene and the victim did not show any signs of suicidal tendencies prior to her death,” reads a translated excerpt of the cable published by the Korea Herald.

RelatedPosts

The Hidden Fallout From China’s Cross-Border Crime Crackdown in Myanmar

The Hidden Fallout From China’s Cross-Border Crime Crackdown in Myanmar

June 9, 2025
1.5k
Thaksin Targets Myanmar’s Wa Army, Calls for No Mercy in Drug War

Thaksin Targets Myanmar’s Wa Army, Calls for No Mercy in Drug War

May 28, 2025
1.2k
Thai Court Issues Warrants Over Deadly Tower Collapse During Quake

Thai Court Issues Warrants Over Deadly Tower Collapse During Quake

May 16, 2025
419

According to the Korea Herald, the declassified dossier “does not reveal the circumstances” of the student’s death. The suspicious death of the judge’s daughter is far from the only reported case of North Korean agents taking part in illicit activities Japan. Following years of denial, North Korea admitted in 2002 to abducting 13 people from Japan between 1977 to 1983, including a 13-year-old schoolgirl.

It remains unclear however if either the Burmese regime—which was headed by Ne Win at the time—or authorities in Japan, concurred with the assessment from the South Koreans about the possible involvement of North Korea in the death of the judge’s daughter. South Korea’s intelligence services have in recent years been subject to a series of scandals that have damaged their credibility and raised questions about their competence.

A number of South Koreans convicted during the Chun Do Hwan era for their alleged ties with North Korea were later exonerated after it emerged the convictions were based false confessions obtained by torture carried out by members of the intelligence services.

The North Korean agent in question, Kim Jin-soo, was part of a three-man hit squad sent to kill Chun Do Hwan, during a wreath laying ceremony at the mausoleum dedicated to Aung San and his colleagues who were assassinated before independence. A bomb planted on the roof of the building was detonated while the Korean strongman was still en route to the mausoleum. A total of 17 South Korean officials who were waiting for Chun Do Hwan were killed, including the deputy prime minister and foreign and trade ministers. Four Burmese, including three local journalists, were killed as well.

Kim was captured two days after the attack following a failed suicide attempt using a grenade which resulted him losing an eye, both his arms and a leg. According to media accounts of his capture, he did not cooperate with Burmese authorities, only giving his name and rank in the Korean People’s Army. Another agent, Shin Ki-chul, was killed in a gunfight with police while a third, Kang Min-chul, also blew off his hand during his unsuccessful attempt to avoid being captured alive. Kim was executed in 1984 while Kang, was spared and instead sent to Insein prison, where he lived out the rest of his life until reportedly dying of liver cancer in 2007.

A former deputy director of the South Korean National Intelligence Service, Ra Jong-yil, who later wrote a book about Kang, was able, with the help of intelligence chief Khin Nyunt, to arrange for South Korean diplomats to visit Kang in prison. Following Khin Nyunt’s purge in 2004 the visits ended.

Burma broke off diplomatic relations with Pyongyang in the wake of the bloody events at the martyrs mausoleum; ties were rekindled in the late 1990s. Formal diplomatic relations were officially restored in 2007. In November 2008, the then third ranking of member of Burma’s military regime, Shwe Mann, led a high-level Burmese delegation to North Korea where he signed a memorandum of understanding with his North Korean counterparts covering bilateral military ties.

 

Your Thoughts …
Tags: AsiaCrimeNorth KoreaWorld
Seamus Martov

Seamus Martov

...

Similar Picks:

Myanmar’s BGF: A Family-Run Criminal Enterprise With Friends Across Asia
Burma

Myanmar’s BGF: A Family-Run Criminal Enterprise With Friends Across Asia

by The Irrawaddy
May 22, 2024
37.2k

A new report by JFM spotlights the organized crime empire of junta-allied Karen warlord Saw Chit Thu and his family,...

Read moreDetails
Notorious Myanmar Arms Broker Convicted of Cash Smuggling in Singapore 
Burma

Notorious Myanmar Arms Broker Convicted of Cash Smuggling in Singapore 

by The Irrawaddy
January 8, 2024
28.8k

US-sanctioned Kyaw Min Oo and two accomplices were caught at Changi airport with over half a million dollars.

Read moreDetails
Myanmar Junta Detains Generals Who Surrendered to Resistance in Laukkai
Burma

Myanmar Junta Detains Generals Who Surrendered to Resistance in Laukkai

by The Irrawaddy
January 8, 2024
24k

The detention of the six brigadier generals is required under the military’s rules following last week’s surrender to the MNDAA,...

Read moreDetails
Myanmar Junta Reportedly Set to Prosecute High-Profile Businessmen for Corruption
Junta Cronies

Myanmar Junta Reportedly Set to Prosecute High-Profile Businessmen for Corruption

by The Irrawaddy
October 18, 2023
15.9k

Regime cronies Thein Win Zaw and Mu Mu Shein are set to follow former lieutenant general Moe Myint Tun as...

Read moreDetails
Myanmar’s Karen BGF Launches ‘Scam Crackdown’ After Chinese Celebs Abducted
Burma

Myanmar’s Karen BGF Launches ‘Scam Crackdown’ After Chinese Celebs Abducted

by Maung Kavi
January 16, 2025
14.9k

Junta-affiliated militia overseeing notorious transnational crime hub issues ‘clean-up’ message to Chinese tycoons in Myawaddy.  

Read moreDetails
Notorious Cybercrime Boss ‘Kills Himself’ in Myanmar Border Scam Town  
Burma

Notorious Cybercrime Boss ‘Kills Himself’ in Myanmar Border Scam Town  

by The Irrawaddy
November 17, 2023
9.6k

Ming Xuechang, wanted by China over telecom and online scams in Kokang’s Laukkai that targeted Chinese citizens, shot himself while...

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
Ko Swe Win in front of the Kyauktada Police Station earlier this month. / Chan Son / The Irrawaddy

Rangoon Judge Throws Out Defamation Case Against Journalist

Dateline Irrawaddy: ‘New Political Parties Are Not Enemies’

Dateline Irrawaddy: ‘New Political Parties Are Not Enemies’

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

Will Myanmar’s Military Replace Its Embattled Leader?

Will Myanmar’s Military Replace Its Embattled Leader?

1 week ago
2.5k
How the Myanmar Military’s Propaganda Efforts Have Evolved Over the Decades

How the Myanmar Military’s Propaganda Efforts Have Evolved Over the Decades

3 days ago
980

Most Read

  • Myanmar Tourism Sector Mocks Junta’s Russia Tourist Drive

    Myanmar Tourism Sector Mocks Junta’s Russia Tourist Drive

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Untested Commander Takes Charge as Myanmar Military Faces Toughest Challenge in Decades

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Sagaing Region Braced for Myanmar Junta Airstrikes After Jet Crash

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Is TNLA, Under Chinese Pressure, Conceding Northern Shan Gateway to the Regime?

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Advances into Karenni State

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.