Court finds N. Korean spy's stepfather not guilty in espionage case

SUWON, South Korea, Feb. 18 (Yonhap) -- A court on Wednesday cleared the stepfather of a convicted North Korean spy of espionage charges, citing a lack of corroborating evidence.

The prosecution said it plans to appeal.
The Suwon District Court freed Kim Dong-soon, a 63-year-old North Korean
defector, saying that the charges filed against him by the prosecution lack
direct evidence proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Kim is the stepfather of Won Jeong-hwa, a female North Korean spy who, disguised
as a defector, entered South Korea with a mission to collect military
intelligence and information on North Koreans defectors who had settled in the
South. She was also accused of plotting the assassination of Hwang Jang-yop, the
highest-ranking North Korean to defect to the South.
Won admitted to the charges and was jailed in October for a five-year sentence.
Kim was arrested in September on suspicion of faking his defection to collaborate
with Won to seek out Hwang's whereabouts. The prosecution had sought a 12-year
sentence for him, but he denied the charges against him, accusing his
stepdaughter of perjury.
The court said the prosecution concluded Kim was a spy based only on
circumstantial evidence.