Indonesian police announce investigation of North Korean restaurant in Jakarta

Posted on : 2017-02-22 16:28 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Police looking into whether restaurant was used as an operational base by North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau
 
Police and reporters wait outside of a hospital in Kuala Lumpur for Kim Han-sol
Police and reporters wait outside of a hospital in Kuala Lumpur for Kim Han-sol

Indonesian police announced that they have begun an investigation into allegations that a North Korean restaurant in the capital of Jakarta was being used as an operational base by North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), an intelligence agency.

Senior Commander Argo Yuwono, a spokesperson for the Indonesian police, announced on Feb. 19 that the police would be working with the Foreign Ministry as they investigated the owner and license of a North Korean restaurant in Indonesia, the Jakarta Post reported. While Yuwono said the investigation had been opened following media reports that a North Korean restaurant in Jakarta had been used as a base of operations by the RGB, the involvement of Indonesian national Siti Aisyah, 25, in the killing of Kim Jong-nam, 46, half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, also appears to have affected the decision to investigate.

After Aisyah’s identity became public, Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla argued that she had been taken advantage of by North Korean operatives, saying that she would not have been exposed if she had actually been an assassin.

On Feb. 16, Singapore-based news portal AsiaOne quoted a source as saying that RGB operatives had been carrying out espionage activities in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia for more than two decades and that they had used a North Korean restaurant in Jakarta as the base of their operations. The source reportedly said that the operatives had operated textile and construction companies inside Indonesia to raise money for their activities and that they had even attempted the illegal sale of narcotics.

After the killing of Kim Jong-nam, Malaysian newspaper the Star also quoted a source as saying that RGB agents “used the restaurants as a main front to conduct intelligence gathering and surveillance, targeting Japanese and South Korean politicians, diplomats, top corporate figures and businessmen who visited or were based in these countries.”

By Hwang Keum-bi, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

 

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