hankyoreh

alleged attacked of US Ambassador Mark Lippert

Claims are emerging that Kim Ki-jong, 55, currently detained after his attack on US Ambassador Mark Lippert, was not connected with an attempt to set up a memorial altar for late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2011, contradicting earlier claims made by the police.

While the police have been citing Kim’s alleged attempt to build an altar as the main grounds for investigating allegations that he violated the National Security Law, they now need to figure out whether he actually tried to build the altar.

Even on Mar. 11 - just two days before they are supposed to refer the case to the prosecutors - the police had not booked Kim for violating the National Security Law and were continuing to look into the question.

During press briefings on Mar. 6 and Mar. 8, the police said that Kim Ki-jong had tried to set up an altar for Kim Jong-il in front of Deoksu Palace in Seoul in 2011.

Kim Du-yeon, Chief of National Security Division 2 for the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, spoke with the Hankyoreh about this issue. “Kim Ki-jong was definitely on the scene, but we are carrying out a preliminary review of pictures taken there to determine if he actually attempted to build the altar,” said Kim Du-yeon.

“He has not been investigated on the charge in question,” said Kim Du-yeon when asked to confirm whether Kim was a subject of investigation.

Along with Kim Ki-jong’s seven visits to North Korea and his position that North and South Korea should sign a peace treaty, the police have been regarding his alleged attempt to set up an altar for Kim Jong-il as evidence that he intended to “aid the enemy.”

Kim Ki-jong’s lawyer maintains that Kim did not try to build an altar for the deceased North Korean leader.

“While my client was on his way to Seoul City Hall to meet the vice mayor for political affairs, he was attacked by members of the Korea Parent Federation, a conservative group, who were preventing a certain organization from setting up an altar,” said Hwang Sang-hyeon, the lawyer who is defending Kim.

Later, when the Korea Parent Federation uploaded a video to the internet depicting Kim Ki-jong as pro-North Korea, he sued them for defamation. The prosecutors summarily indicted leaders of the Korea Parent Federation.

“While the prosecutors were investigating the charges of defamation, they asked my client if he had gone there to set up the altar. He responded by asking why he would burn incense for Kim Jong-il,” said Hwang, who also defended Kim Ki-jong four years ago.

“Kim Ki-jong wasn’t part of our plans. In fact, I met Kim for the first time in front of Deoksu Palace. I have no way of knowing how Kim came to be there,” said an individual named Yoon who organized the attempt to set up the altar and was subsequently prosecuted for violating the National Security Law. Yoon is a member of a group called Victims of the National Security Law.

At the same time, the police are looking into whether the thirty or so people with whom Kim Ki-jong had three or more phone conversations between Feb. 17, when he received an invitation from the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation (KCRC) to attend the morning lecture with Mark Lippert, and Mar. 5, the day of the attack, have a history of violating the National Security Law.

The police are also trying to determine whether the approximately twenty people who have given donations since 2013 to Woori Madang, the group led by Kim, were connected with the crime.

The Jongno Police Department, which has been criticized for not providing Lippert with enough protection, announced belatedly that it had been monitoring Kim Ki-jong along with other people who are on a blacklist of habitual protestors.

By Park Tae-woo and Kim Kyu-nam, staff reporters

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