Kim Jong Il’s Man in Washington

The Washington Times has published another excerpt from Bill Gertz’s book, “Enemies: How America’s Foes Steal Our Vital Secrets — And How We Let It Happen.” Today’s installment is about John Joungwoong Yai, who was arrested for spying for North Korea in 2003 and charged with violating the Foreign Agents’ Registration Act. Yai’s sole occupation seems to have been some rather amateurish efforts to plant a spy with a security clearance inside the U.S. government. Yai appears to have targeted young Korean-Americans, and although he appears to have found a number of prospects — one potential recruit even went to Pyongyang — he seems not to have been successful. That directly contradicts his lawyer’s widely reported version that Yai was merely sending open-source stuff back to the mother ship. I can’t abide efforts to minimize Yai’s criminal intent. His competence is an entirely different matter.