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Ko Hyon-chol, who has been arrested for conspiring with South Korea's spy agency, attends a news conference at the People's Palace of Culture in Pyongyang in this picture provided by KCNA in Pyongyang on July 15, 2016. Ko’s arrest in North Korea was covered by a report from AFP, which said “Ko Hyon-Chol, 53, ‘confessed’ to attempting to kidnap two North Korean girl orphans and take them to the South”. During a press conference held in Pyongyang attended by foreign media and diplomats, Ko said he was introduced to agents from South Korean’s spy agency in December 2015. According to the report, Ko was told in May to “arrange the kidnapping of orphans from North Korea” with the National Intelligence Service (NIS) promising to paying $10,000 for each abductee. He subsequently crossed the river in to North Korea on May 27, but was soon arrested. The news comes after a mass-defection of North Korean restaurant workers to South Korea in April. But North Korea called the event a “mass-abduction”, blaming the NIS. State media claimed the defectors were on hunger strike and were demanding an immediate return to North Korea. Seoul firmly denied Pyongyang’s claims related to the case, and reiterated that the North Korean workers defected of their own their free will, with an official from the MoU’s press office telling NK News the North’s claims are “not even worth the discussion”. (Photo by KCNA/Reuters)
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