Dissident group claims raid on North Korea embassy in Spain

Bloomberg

A secretive group seeking to overthrow Kim Jong-un’s regime claimed responsibility for a raid last month on North Korea’s embassy in Madrid, alleging the country’s overseas missions are conduits for illicit funds.
The group, called Free Joseon and previously known as Cheollima Civil Defense, said in a statement posted to its website that its actions were in response “to an urgent situation in the Madrid embassy.” It also asked the public for information on what it claimed was illegal activity being carried out in the embassy.
Some 10 people took part in the raid on February 22,
including the group’s leader, a Mexican citizen resident in the US, a US citizen and a South Korean, according to a Spanish court statement.
North Korea only has some two dozen embassies worldwide. The rare raid took place just before February’s summit in Hanoi between Kim and President Donald Trump, raising questions about who was responsible and whether the timing was related to any motive.
Free Joseon posted on February 25 that it had “received requests for help from a Western country,” without specifying further. The Spanish court statement said the Mexican leader of the group that attacked the embassy had gotten in touch with the FBI in New York five days after the raid to offer information after catching a flight to the US from Lisbon.
US State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said at a briefing that Spanish authorities were handling the investigation into the raid. “The United States government had nothing to do with this,” he said. South Korea’s Unification Ministry declined to comment on Free Joseon’s claim.
Over the years, the US has accused North Korea of using its overseas missions to spread counterfeit US currency — allegations North Korea has denied. The country’s finances have been crippled by international sanctions penalising its disputed nuclear weapons programme.
“The regime’s embassies and offices are hubs of illicit narcotics and arms trafficking,” Free Joseon’s statement said. Joseon is a Korean-language term for Korea.
The group claimed it found evidence to support its claims and added that “no weapons were used” and ‘‘all occupants in the embassy were treated with dignity and necessary caution.”
According to the Spanish court statement, the assailants armed with machetes, knives, iron bars and fake pistols beat the embassy’s occupants before tying them up. When police arrived, the leader of the group came to the door wearing a jacket with badge with Kim’s face on it and told them everything was alright.