Kim Hyun-hee: NIS Pressured to Lie about KAL 858
by Richardson ~ December 1st, 2008. Filed under: Korean Politics, Terrorism.Kim Hyun-hee, one of the infamous bombers of Korean Air (KAL) 858 in 1987 which killed 115 (see book review, The Tears of My Soul), claims that South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS), during the first year of Roh Moo-hyun’s administration, pressured her to recant that the bombing was directed by North Korea. When she refused, the media networks revealed enough information about her that it was possible to locate her (h/t MAJ K):
Kim Hyun-hee… has claimed that the National Intelligence Service under the Roh Moo-hyun administration plotted to spread a suspicion that the bombing was fabricated by mobilizing the three terrestrial TV networks. Kim made the claim last week in a 73-page letter to Lee Dong-bok, the head of the North Korean Democratization Forum. She claims she was thrown out of her house after refusing NIS requests to give interviews to the networks and has been living “a refugee’s life” for five years.
[…]
In October 2003, the first year in office of the Roh administration, “an NIS official said I would have to emigrate because I was causing controversy in the NIS,” Kim writes. […] Reporters for the three networks began to besiege my house, eventually exposing my whereabouts. As a consequence, I had to flee from the house at the crack of dawn one day, carrying my children on my back.”
[…]
Once they were made public, she was vulnerable to an attack from North Korea. Lee Han-young, the nephew of Song Hye-rim, the late wife of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who fled to the South and openly denounced the North Korean system, was assassinated in 1997 by a suspected North Korean agent.
This is still a claim but it is certainly consistent with the apologist policies and actions of Roh Moo-hyun and his administration, going incredible lengths to appease North Korea and it’s leader, Kim Jong-il. Having Kim Hyun-hee recant her previous testimony that North Korea – and Kim Jong-il specifically – directed the bombing of KAL 858 would have been a gift for the North Korean regime (though the Bush administration made the list of terrorist sponsoring nations a moot issue for North Korea in 2008).


December 1st, 2008 at 11:14 pm
“As a consequence, I had to flee from the house at the crack of dawn one day, carrying my children on my back.”
Really?? Does this sound like what people have to do in the North? Run away at the crack of dawn? RMH is a punk!
December 6th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
More disturbing claims like this will continue to emerge.
December 7th, 2008 at 9:52 am
I think it is time for Kim Hyun Hee to come out of the cold and write another book. There won’t be much sympathy for the other parties in this never ending tragedy.
December 8th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
[...] Kim Hyun-hee… has claimed that the National Intelligence Service under the Roh Moo-hyun administration plotted to spread a suspicion that the bombing was fabricated by mobilizing the three terrestrial TV networks. Kim made the claim last week in a 73-page letter to Lee Dong-bok, the head of the North Korean Democratization Forum. She claims she was thrown out of her house after refusing NIS requests to give interviews to the networks and has been living “a refugee’s life” for five years. […] In October 2003, the first year in office of the Roh administration, “an NIS official said I would have to emigrate because I was causing controversy in the NIS,” Kim writes. […] Reporters for the three networks began to besiege my house, eventually exposing my whereabouts. As a consequence, I had to flee from the house at the crack of dawn one day, carrying my children on my back.” […] Once they were made public, she was vulnerable to an attack from North Korea. Lee Han-young, the nephew of Song Hye-rim, the late wife of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who fled to the South and openly denounced the North Korean system, was assassinated in 1997 by a suspected North Korean agent. [Chosun Ilbo via DPRK Studies] [...]