Ex-N. Korean agent goes public in Austria after years of hiding+

VIENNA, March 6 Kyodo -
A former North Korean agent and colonel who defected from his country in 1994
went public after hiding in Austria for 15 years.

''Before I die I finally want to tell the truth,'' said Kim Jong Ryul, 75, who
appeared before the press Wednesday in Vienna to talk about the publication of
a book about his life.
''I want to report about the cruelty and the brutality, about the dishonesty of
the dictators, about the brazenness of the 'little dictator' (Kim Jong Il), who
has all luxurious goods of this world delivered, while people starve,'' he said
in a press release.
Kim worked as a procurement agent for late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung and
his son and successor Kim Jong Il for 20 years.
The book, ''Im Dienst des Diktators (In the service of the dictator),'' written
by Austrian journalists Ingrid Steiner-Gashi and Gardan Gashi and currently
only available in German, tells the story about his life and work.
Born in 1935, he could not go to school until the age of 17 and had to start
working soon to support his family.
From 1955 to 1962 he studied mechanical engineering in the former East Germany.
Being a well-educated and accepted member of the Workers' Party of Korea, he
was chosen to work on secret projects for the country's rulers.
In 1974 he undertook his first procurement trip to Vienna and it was not
difficult for him to find companies who would sell the needed items despite
existing embargo rules.
Over the years he bought laboratory equipment, alarm systems, luxurious cars,
modern technologies and Western food, of which about four-fifths was directly
sent to the leaders' family.
But doubts had arisen deep inside him as he saw the leaders living in luxury
while the North Korean people were living in poverty. In October 1994, shortly
after the death of Kim Il Sung, he broke contact with his colleagues by faking
his death at the end of one of his trips.
He had planned to stay and hide in Austria only for a couple of years until the
regime in North Korea collapsed.
''I prepared my escape to Austria with the thought of going into hiding for
two, three years. When Dictator Kim Il Sung died, I was sure that the
dictatorship would collapse as the regimes in the whole communist eastern part
of Europe and even the Soviet union did,'' Kim said.
Fifteen years later, however, he lost hope that the regime would ever fall.
''I am 75 years old now and I hardly have any hope that I will ever be able to
go back,'' he said, adding that he does not ''want to die calm and silent'' but
wants to reveal the truth of the regime.
''This truth is also my revenge and I hope that I can help to weaken the
dictator with this report,'' he said.
By telling his story he has not only put himself in danger but has also caused
his whole family left in North Korea to face the risk of being punished for his
defection.
''From this day on I am afraid,'' he said at the presentation of the book. ''I
don't know where the bullet that will kill me will come from.''
He is planning to apply for political asylum in Austria soon.
==Kyodo
2010-03-06 23:19:46