Spanish judge to seek extradition of North Korea embassy intruders: source

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish judge plans to request the extradition from the United States of members of a group he suspects of forcing their way into the North Korean embassy in Madrid and trying to persuade an official there to defect, a judicial source said on Tuesday.

The judge believes a group of 10 intruders identified themselves as human rights campaigners during the assault, according to a document of Spain’s High Court. A few days later their leader contacted the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to pass on information about the raid, the document said.

The judicial source told Reuters the judge believes all the identified suspects went to the United States after the raid and that he would request their extradition to Spain, where they could face up to 28 years in prison.

Spain’s Interior Ministry had previously said police were investigating an incident at the embassy on Feb. 22, but gave no details except to say that a North Korean citizen had been injured and that no one had filed a complaint.

-snip-

WORLD NEWS MARCH 26, 2019 / 9:59 AM / UPDATED 29 MINUTES AGO
Isla Binnie
4 MIN READ


Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spain-northkorea/intruder-at-spanish-north-korean-embassy-contacted-fbi-high-court-idUSKCN1R71O0

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EDIT: article updated at link

Original Reuters headline: Intruder at Spanish North Korean embassy contacted FBI: High Court

______________________________________________________________________

Source: Associated Press

Spain: FBI Offered Stolen Data From N Korea Embassy Attack

March 26, 2019, at 10:26 a.m.

MADRID (AP) -- A SPANISH court has accused an American, Mexican and South Korean of an attack on the North Korean Embassy in February, saying the FBI was offered stolen data.

National Court judge Jose de la Mata on Tuesday lifted a secrecy order, announcing it had found evidence of various crimes, including trespassing, injuries, threats and burglary committed by "a criminal organization."

The investigating magistrate named Adrian Hong Chang, a Mexican national and resident in the United States, as the leader of a gang of 10 people who escaped in broad daylight on Feb. 22 after stealing computers and documents from the embassy, where they shackled and gagged its staff.

The judge says Hong Chang escaped Spanish authorities and flew to the U.S., where he got in touch with the FBI.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2019-03-26/spain-fbi-offered-stolen-data-from-n-korea-embassy-attack

[clayton72]

1. OK, my curiosity is piqued... What's this about?

[Eugene]

2. If we can believe the accounts so far, a gang of civilians conducted a freelance intel raid,

stole computers and offered the stolen data to the United States.

From the Telegraph:

Was North Korea’s vital 'transformation computer' taken in raid on Madrid embassy?

By Julian Ryall
26 MARCH 2019 • 4:26AM

The group of men who briefly took control of the North Korean embassy in Madrid in February are believed to have made off with vital decryption computers that Pyongyang needs to communicate with its diplomatic missions and agents overseas, according to a former North Korean diplomat.

Thae Yong-ho, who was the deputy head of the North Korean embassy in London until he defected with his family in 2016, said in a post on his website that the “transformation computer” that was apparently taken “is considered more important than human lives”.

The loss of the equipment potentially compromises the unbreakable code that Pyongyang uses to relay its orders overseas, Mr Thae said, and would “critically harm” the regime.

No group has taken the credit for the attack on the North Korean mission in Madrid on February 22, although there have been suggestions that it was carried out by a shadowy organisation called the Cheollima Civil Defence, which has declared itself to be a government in exile. Also known as Free Jeoson, it claims to be planning the overthrow of the government of Kim Jong-un.

Reports in the Spanish media have also claimed that at least two of the individuals who took part in the raid had links to the CIA, although analysts say that is unlikely given the timing of the incident, just days before Donald Trump, the US president, met Kim in Hanoi.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/03/26/raid-north-koreas-madrid-embassy-may-provide-key-codes/

[Nitram]

3. Maybe. It also could have been a CIA-sponsored fishing expedition. They don't usually take part

in something with such a high international profile, though. Too many ways for the Spanish government to trace it back to the CIA. The Fact that the FBI was contacted sounds like a red herring because the FBI does not conduct black ops abroad.

[cab67]

4. too clumsy for CIA.

Intel professionals wouldn't have done something that would generate headlines.

[soryang]

5. This makes it even more likely it's intel related.

Reports in the Spanish media have also claimed that at least two of the individuals who took part in the raid had links to the CIA, although analysts say that is unlikely given the timing of the incident, just days before Donald Trump, the US president, met Kim in Hanoi.

[Eugene]

6. Shadowy North Korean dissident group says it raided embassy, contacted FBI

Source: CNN

Shadowy North Korean dissident group says it raided embassy, contacted FBI

By Zachary Cohen, CNN
Updated 1026 GMT (1826 HKT) March 27, 2019

Washington (CNN) — A shadowy North Korean dissident group claimed responsibility for last month's raid on Pyongyang's embassy in the Spanish capital, Madrid on Tuesday but disputed allegations that what occurred at the diplomatic compound was an "attack" involving armed intruders.

Cheollima Civil Defense, a secretive organization whose goal is to overthrow the Kim regime in North Korea, also denied that any other foreign governments were involved in the operation or that it was related to President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un's summit in Hanoi, which occurred days later.

"This was not an attack. We responded to an urgent situation in the Madrid embassy. We were invited into the embassy, and contrary to reports, no one was gagged or beaten. Out of respect for the host nation of Spain, no weapons were used. All occupants in the embassy were treated with dignity and necessary caution. There were no other governments involved with or aware of our activity until after the event," a statement released by CCD said.

"We have evidence verifying our account. It is to protect those who seek our help, and those who take great risk to protect others, that we cannot share more about the event at this time. We continue to be engaged in extraordinarily sensitive work around the world," it added.

-snip-

Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/26/politics/north-korean-embassy-madrid-fbi-spanish-judge/index.html