Photo source = National Federation of Korean National Trade Unions’ homepage (captured)
The fact that former and current executives of the National Confederation of Democratic Trade Unions (CTU), who were arrested and imprisoned for violating the National Security Law, formed an underground organization that followed North Korea and organized their activities with titles such as “branch manager,” “team leader 2,” and “team leader 3.” this has been revealed
According to the Dong-A Ilbo coverage on the 29th, the National Intelligence Service and the police and other public security authorities found that the arrested Mr. A, the head of the organization of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, had their respective titles and divided their roles.
They described the underground organization to which they belonged as a ‘governor’, and Mr. A, the director of the organization of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, acted as the ‘branch manager’. Mr. A is suspected of acting as a ‘chief leader’ in direct communication with North Korean agents, giving and receiving orders, and reporting the activities of the ‘governor’, an underground organization, to North Korea. It was also revealed that Mr. A reported to North Korea in detail on several occasions the internal trends of the Confederation of Trade Unions, such as the progress of the election for the chairman of the Confederation of Trade Unions from September to December 2020.
It was investigated that Mr. B, head of the organizational department of the KCTU Health and Medical Union, who was imprisoned, took on the roles of ‘branch 3 team leader’ and ‘gangwon branch manager’. Mr. B, who had been active in a hospital union in Gangwon-do for a long time, was found to have played a role in expanding the local sub-organization by recruiting labor movement activists in Gangwon-do. Mr. C, who served as the vice chairman of the KCTU metal union, played the role of ‘branch 2 team leader’. He is suspected of operating mainly in the Gwangju area of South Jeolla Province under North Korean orders to “take control of the metal union executive and establish a sub-organization at Kia Motors’ Gwangju plant.”
The authorities believe that these current and former executives, who have been active in the KCTU for at least 13 years and at most 24 years since the early 2000s, have been working systematically to expand underground organizations within the KCTU. Authorities are said to have emphasized during the review of the warrants for their arrest held on the 27th, “The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the largest trade union in Korea, has been used as a shield to disguise their operations in South Korea as if they were legitimate union activities.”
It was also revealed that an official from the Confederation of Trade Unions, who was subject to a search and seizure by the authorities on the 24th of this month on charges of violating the National Security Law, contacted a North Korean spy in China in 2018.
Mr. D, an executive of the Gyeonggi Central Branch of the Confederation of Trade Unions, is suspected of meeting an agent of the Cultural Exchange Bureau (formerly 225 Bureau), a North Korean operative organization in Guangzhou, China in September 2018. It was investigated that Mr. D was walking around carrying a fan on the streets of Guangzhou, found the North Korean spy, and followed him to the meeting place while maintaining a certain distance. Authorities believe that Mr. D and the North Korean spy used the debt as a kind of ‘sign’ to recognize each other.
The authorities believe that Mr. D is a sub-network of Mr. A, the head of the organizing department of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, who is under arrest and investigation for violating the National Security Law. It is said that Mr. A also had a record of leaving for Guangzhou, China in September 2018. Authorities are not ruling out the possibility that Mr. A assisted in the meeting by guiding Mr. D to the meeting point with the agents of the North Korean Cultural Exchange Bureau. It is known that the authorities are analyzing the contents of the mobile phone and personal computer documents obtained through the search and seizure of Mr. D’s office and home on the 24th.
Correspondent God Yea yea@donga.com
