[You're in way over your head, Gov. There was no such thing as the Taliban before 1993. We supported the Mujaheddin, who were overthrown by the Taliban years after we ended our assistance and forgot about Afghanistan. The Mujaheddin were fighting against a brutal Soviet occupation that intentionally made war against the civilian population of Afghanistan and killed 2 million people. - Joshua]

(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(ii) to influence the policy of a government by
intimidation or coercion; or
(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass
destruction, assassination, or kidnapping;

That fits more or less with my own working definition. I take “civilian” population to refer to the larger civilian population of a nation (though the language is somewhat imprecise), so I still think that the threat to Hwang was more a political assassination attempt than an attempted terrorist act.

Jeffery Hodges

* * *

“I think these are very good, central questions, along with the question as to how these spies could be dumb enough to openly reveal their target during defector questioning. It would force a reasonable person to wonder if killing Hwang was NOT the primary purpose of their mission. ”

—
Good point.
——-
Kushibo responded to::

Theresa Hwang is a shady figure.

“This sentence needs a comma. I thought you were dissing our Theresa.”
—–

Thanks. I didn’t take offense at it. My last name isn’t Hwang, if that’s how you thought it read.

Kim Jong Il is said to have “accepted” Hwang’s defection back in 1997, but not before North Korean special agents killed another prominent defector living in Bundang. Having met Mr. Hwang in person a few years back, I can report that he is surrounded by body guards at all times and doesn’t stay in one place too long.

Agreed with Joshua. If this isn’t state-sponsored terrorism, then I don’t know what is…well, maybe an unprovoked sneak torpedo attack on a military warship in peacetime. Speaking of which, South Korean military intelligence has announced that they are “certain” North Korea was behind the attack after a review of South Korean and American intelligence reports. In fact, they had been warning about a North Korean retaliatory strike on a South Korean warship since February.

I think these are very good, central questions, along with the question as to how these spies could be dumb enough to openly reveal their target during defector questioning. It would force a reasonable person to wonder if killing Hwang was NOT the primary purpose of their mission.

Hwang isn’t just the highest level defector; he’s the high priest of Juche and as such must be made an example for other antiJucheists. Whether that amounts to terrorism or not, it certainly has massive symbolic value.

Theresa Hwang is a shady figure.

This sentence needs a comma. I thought you were dissing our Theresa.

He is still a Kim Il Sung sympathist and highly suspected Juche follower. His only qualms about the DPRK seem to be the rule of Kim jong Il the son.

I have serious qualms about Mr Hwang myself, especially when he talks up human rights, but he may be better equipped than anyone else we’ve got to know what will erode the power of the regime. Right or wrong, some people believe(d) in engagement not as a way to prop up the regime but to transform it, and it would hardly surprise me if he’s one of them.

Terrorism is generally understood as a violent attack on innocent civilians carried out in order to terrorize the larger population and thereby apply pressure on that population’s government to change some policy that the terrorists disapprove of.

Would the killing of Hwang have had such a terrorizing effect and such a political aim?

Jeffery Hodges

* * *

[Did you read the statute I linked? Plenty of people like to redefine terrorism in ways that fit their own political agendas, which is why I like the consistency of a statutory definition. To answer your next question, Hwang is almost 90. He probably doesn't give a damn if someone off him now. The entire idea of assassinating him would be to show the 18,000 North Korean defectors in the South that Kim Jong Il can get to anyone who opposes him, or who advocates ideas as dangerous (to KJI) as this. - Joshua]