A South Korean court has jailed a North Korean spy for 10 years for plotting to assassinate the highest-ranking defector ever to flee the communist state. The Seoul Central District Court said the 46-year-old would-be assassin, identified only as Lee, intended to murder Hwang Jang-Yop on orders from a North Korean espionage body. Lee had admitted the charge, saying he had been trained by the North's Reconnaissance Bureau, which oversees espionage operations against the South.
The spy told investigators he entered South Korea via Thailand last August, posing as an ordinary refugee. His mission was disclosed during an interrogation about his motives for fleeing.
Hwang died of natural causes at his closely guarded Seoul home last October 10 at the age of 87.
The former secretary to the ruling communist party and tutor to current North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il defected to the South in 1997 during a visit to Beijing.
He became a vocal critic of the regime and its dynastic succession, drawing frequent death threats from Pyongyang.
The North had described Hwang as a "traitor and human scum" and warned that he would "not be safe anywhere".
In July last year, two other North Korean spies were sentenced to 10 years in prison in Seoul for plotting to murder Hwang. Lee was arrested last August.
The court said Lee's planned crime could have seriously damaged the South, but it took into consideration the fact that he was acting on Pyongyang's orders.
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