Fifth Column Update

Prosecutors have identified additional suspects in the Il Shim Hue cell, who they think provided the following types of information to the North Koreans:

The suspects reportedly provided information on the six-nation talks and the internal split of the Grand National Party over the National Security Law to Mr. Jang starting early last year. Internal conflicts in the army and developments in the judicial and media communities were also provided to Mr. Jang. That information was delivered to Pyongyang, sources said.

That’s  pretty vague stuff, and it doesn’t tell us whether the information was confidential, or even availlable in open sources.  Really, the Il Shim Hue case doesn’t look especially strong  as a pure  espionage case for that very reason, at least not so far.  It’s the suspects’ involvement in the North’s subversion and  “active measures” that are more compelling.  If, on the other hand, the cell was feeding the North Koreans confidential information on the ROK’s bargaining position before the talks, then it could have served to reenforce North Korea’s intransigence there.  Stay tuned.