SEOUL: North Korea criticized the US for refusing to extradite a man who it was accused of staging a break-in at the country’s embassy in Spain in 2019 and said Washington was protecting terrorism, KCNA reported on Tuesday.
The North Korean embassy in the Spanish capital Madrid issued a press release marking the 4th anniversary of the raid.
Staff members gagged, computers seized during embassy raid
During the incident, group of men bound and gagged staff members for many hours and subsequently drove off with computers along with other devices.
Pyongyang denounced the incident as a terrorist attack and a grave breach of sovereignty. It also accused Washington of not probing the gang thoroughly and refusing to extradite its leader, Christopher Ahn. The statement called this step a violation of international law.
Ahn, is a former US Marine who had worked as an activist of human rights, was nabbed in Los Angeles in April 2019 but 3 months later freed on $1.3 million bail.
The embassy release stated that Ahn must be severely punished because he inflicted severe mental as well as physical along with material damage on the diplomatic staff members and their kin.
It added that the US was protecting and encouraging terrorism against North Korean citizens globally based on groundless allegations.
Spanish authorities identified the group as members of an outfit called Cheollima Civil Defense, or Free Joseon, whose aim is to overthrow of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, and sought Ahn’s extradition.
Although the group had acknowledged it was responsible for the break-in, it claimed its members had been invited inside.
American court documents revealed that the men took hard drives, computers, and a mobile phone from the North Korean embassy and later handed them over to the FBI after fleeing to the US.
The FBI later on gave the items to Spain’s authorities who returned them back to the embassy.
