Defector danger

". . North Koreans know little to nothing about the world we live in. Most are unaware that there is an alternative to repressive tyranny. We are helping to change that," says Human Rights Foundation president Thor Halversson.  The HRF partnered with defector Park Sang Hak's balloon effort (yesterday's post).

As he lives his life in Seoul, South Korea, Park has security guards.  He needs them because "he receives regular death threats . ."

A trap was set for him three years ago:  "a fellow defector called, offering to broker a meeting with a supporter who could provide funding for launches. The South Korean National Intelligence Service told him it was a trap and ended up capturing four men at the rendezvous point, a subway station in Seoul. One of them, a defector known only as Ahn, had served in the North Korean special forces and was carrying an arsenal of assassination gadgets, including a miniature flashlight that fired bullets, a pen that shot steel darts, and another containing a needle that delivered a lethal toxin.

"Ahn later admitted to having been paid $12,000 by the North Koreans to murder Park. They had threatened to harm his family if he didn’t go through with it."