‘My life is in danger,’ says marine vet who tried to help North Korean diplomats defect

A Marine Corps veteran says his life is in danger after he claims he staged a fake kidnapping to help a North Korean diplomat defect.

christopher ann Talked about in a “60 Minutes” interview Speaking to Sharin Alfonsi on Sunday, the Spanish government is currently seeking his extradition following the incident.

Mr. Ahn said he was part of Cheonlima Civil Defense, a secretive activist group aiming to overthrow the North Korean government.

“Of course it sounds crazy,” he said, explaining how a North Korean diplomat at the Spanish embassy contacted the group to help with the defection.

His mission is to fake a kidnapping so the diplomats can hide well enough. Everything was going well, but then the police showed up.

“The color of everyone’s face is just [turned] To Lily White,” he said.

The chargé d’affaires told Spanish police that Ahn’s group tied up and beat the staff during the kidnapping, a charge he denied. The Spanish government is currently trying to extradite him, and he has already spent nearly three months in prison.

“The FBI told me that my life was in danger. The North Korean government was and will continue to target me for assassination,” he said.

Ang’s lawyer told “60 Minutes” that he is trying to get the Justice Department or President Biden to intervene on his behalf to block the extradition.

He added that he had previously helped North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s nephew, Kim Han Sol, flee the country and go into hiding after his father was assassinated in Malaysia in 2017.

North Korea “was publicly embarrassed about what happened in Spain. They were publicly embarrassed because I helped rescue Hansol,” Ahn said. “So why can’t I believe the FBI when they say North Korea is trying to kill me?”