http://www.strategypage.com//fyeo/howtomakewar/default.asp?
target=HTINTEL.HTM
June 16, 2005: It's no secret that North Korea has employed
hundreds, perhaps thousands, of intelligence agents in Japan over
the last half century. Now one of them has come forward and talked
openly about his decades of spying. Using a false name (Sakamoto),
the Japanese man actually did nothing illegal. Japanese law does not
prohibit it's citizens from doing intelligence collection for a
foreign nation. And Japan has tolerated some questionable North
Korean fund raising and intelligence operations because of the large
Korean population in Japan. Those Koreans were first brought to
Japan during the forty years (1905-45) Japan controlled the place.
Most are Japanese citizens, but still identified as "Korean" no
matter how well they speak Japanese. Just being born and raised in
Japan does not make you a Japanese citizen. Many of these Japanese
Koreans openly support North Korea, and back that up with financial,
and other, support for North Korea.
Mr. "Sakamoto," however, was not Korean, but Japanese. He went to
work, in 1970, for a Japanese import/export company run by a Korean
Japanese. This outfit did nearly all of its business with North
Korea, and did quite well until the North Korean economy fell apart
in the 1990s (because of the demise of the Soviet Union, and the end
of Soviet subsidies.) His job gave Sakamoto legitimate opportunities
to travel to North Korea (which has never been much of a tourist
attraction). There, he spent many months being trained for his
espionage duties. These later involved collecting information, from
Japanese media, and Sakamotos own contacts, about Japanese attitudes
towards North Korea, and other matters North Korean officials were
curious about. He was also asked to send some items, like typical
Japanese clothing, to North Korea (apparently to outfit North Korean
agents sent to Japan.) What Sakamoto was doing was not really a
secret. Japanese assumed that anyone working for companies that did
a lot of business with North Korea, served the North Koreans in
other ways. As a result, many journalists came to depend on Sakamoto
for tips on what was really going on in North Korea. Sakamoto was
often not sure himself, but he could give reporters more accurate
information than was available anywhere else. Sometimes, the North
Korean government would have Sakamoto leak specific information to
Japanese journalists.
While Sakamoto never did anything illegal, he did know of other
North Korean agents who apparently did. This involved stealing
information, or paying people to do so. North Korean agents also
kidnapped Japanese, and forced them to help train North Korean
intelligence agents. This was not confirmed until 2002, although it
was suspected for over a decade before that. It's also suspected
that North Korean agents murdered Japanese Koreans who angered the
North Korean government, and used other strong-arm tactics in
Japanese. The Japanese government attributed this sort of thing to
disputes between criminal gangs. Many of the gangsters in Japan are
Koreans.
Watch out Mr. Jenkins!
