Member-only story
Meet the North Korean resistance
Christopher Ahn is awaiting extradition from the US to Spain. He is accused of a crime that he doesn’t necessarily deny taking part in. According to Ahn, a former US marine, in February last year, he and 10 other people were invited into the North Korean embassy in Madrid by a senior official who wanted to defect from the regime. But according to the Spanish and North Korean governments, Ahn and his group forced their way into the embassy with guns, tied up the staff and vandalised the offices.
Adrian Hong, the alleged leader of the embassy invasion, has been in hiding since April. His lawyer says that Hong, a Yale-educated Mexican of Korean descent, has also been targeted for assassination by North Korea.
Both men are part of a group calling itself the Provisional Government of Free Joseon (Free North Korea). On its cryptically austere website, Free Joseon acknowledges that it was present at the North Korean embassy in Madrid when it was allegedly invaded, but insists that it was not an attack:
‘We responded to an urgent situation in the Madrid embassy. We were invited into the embassy, and contrary to reports, no one was gagged or beaten. Out of respect for the host nation of Spain, no weapons were used. All occupants in the embassy were treated with dignity and necessary caution.’
