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SEOUL: Scores of former North Korean soldiers who defected to South Korea will this week form a group aimed at toppling Kim Jong-il's regime with the help of soldiers serving there, one of their leaders said yesterday.
About 200 ex-soldiers from the North will launch the NK People's Liberation Front on Thursday, said Jang Ce-yul, the group's secretary general.
"We still stay in touch with many of our former colleagues in the military, and many of them are fully aware they can't survive long under Kim Jong-il's regime," said Mr Jang, who defected to South Korea two years ago.
"We will provide aid to help them bring down the North's regime at the hands of the North Korean people and military."
He said the group would smuggle anti-communist publications, videos and materials into North Korea, and circulate them among the North's soldiers.
Mr Jang said Hwang Jang-yop, a former Northern official who defected to the South in 1997, will be an adviser.
The group plans projects with members of the North's military and anti-regime groups to "weaken the military's loyalty" to Mr Kim, said Mr Jang. He would not give details, citing concerns about the security of former colleagues in the communist country.
The group said on its website (✫????????✫) it would release a recorded phone conversation with a senior North Korean army officer to demonstrate its links to the military there.
At the inauguration ceremony on Thursday, members of the group will stage a performance simulating the assassination of Mr Kim, the website said.
South Korea sponsors refugees from the North or campaigning against the regime, but this will be the first to link former soldiers from the North.
Meanwhile, North Korea yesterday said it would release a South Korean boat seized last month for alleged illegal fishing.
The North's navy detained the squid fishing boat and its seven crew on August 8 off the east coast of the divided peninsula.
Seoul said the North would return the 41-tonne boat and its crew today.
AFP
Ex-North Korean soldiers aim to topple Kim Jong-il | The Australian
About 200 ex-soldiers from the North will launch the NK People's Liberation Front on Thursday, said Jang Ce-yul, the group's secretary general.
"We still stay in touch with many of our former colleagues in the military, and many of them are fully aware they can't survive long under Kim Jong-il's regime," said Mr Jang, who defected to South Korea two years ago.
"We will provide aid to help them bring down the North's regime at the hands of the North Korean people and military."
He said the group would smuggle anti-communist publications, videos and materials into North Korea, and circulate them among the North's soldiers.
Mr Jang said Hwang Jang-yop, a former Northern official who defected to the South in 1997, will be an adviser.
The group plans projects with members of the North's military and anti-regime groups to "weaken the military's loyalty" to Mr Kim, said Mr Jang. He would not give details, citing concerns about the security of former colleagues in the communist country.
The group said on its website (✫????????✫) it would release a recorded phone conversation with a senior North Korean army officer to demonstrate its links to the military there.
At the inauguration ceremony on Thursday, members of the group will stage a performance simulating the assassination of Mr Kim, the website said.
South Korea sponsors refugees from the North or campaigning against the regime, but this will be the first to link former soldiers from the North.
Meanwhile, North Korea yesterday said it would release a South Korean boat seized last month for alleged illegal fishing.
The North's navy detained the squid fishing boat and its seven crew on August 8 off the east coast of the divided peninsula.
Seoul said the North would return the 41-tonne boat and its crew today.
AFP
Ex-North Korean soldiers aim to topple Kim Jong-il | The Australian
