Activist Behind Anti-Park Protests Has Close Ties with NK

An American protester, who is thought to have led an
anti-Park Geun Hye campaign, while the South Korean president was visiting New
York to attend the UN General Assembly, is believed to be a pro-North Korean
activist who won a prominent award of recognition from Pyongyang. 

Noh Kil Nam, who emigrated to the U.S. in the 1970s, runs
the pro-North Korean website Minjok Tongsin. He was awarded with the “Kim Il
Sung Award” in April by the North’s Presidium at the Supreme People’s Assembly, North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament, for his contributions to media
activities praising the North in the U.S., South Korea’s daily newspaper Munhwa Ilbo
reported Tuesday. 

Noh, back in 2008, received a doctorate degree in political
science from North Korea’s top Kim Il Sung University. He once ran into a South
Korean scholar visiting the States to give a talk on defense issues and purportedly said that he had visited the North 62 times, according to the paper.

Regarding the funds for his campaigning activities, he said
he has “60 sponsors in Los Angeles, 50 in New York, and many more in Washington
D.C. and other states,” adding, “These people send me 200, 500, or 1,000 USD each, which I use to cover my expenses.”

Seoul is said to believe Noh has ties to North Korea’s
espionage operations in the South. It also believes Noh met with related North
Korean officials at the General Bureau of Reconnaissance and the United Front
Department, during his trips to the communist state.

Anti-Park Geun Hye rallies, organized by pro-North Korean
groups, followed the president throughout her stay in the U.S. and have been
accused of smearing the South’s reputation on a global stage, while creating
difficulties within Korean-American communities.

Minjok Tongsin reported on upcoming protests and covered the
events sponsored by pro-Pyongyang organizations such as Missy USA [website for
Korean-American married women], Solidarity for Hope in America, and New York
Sigukhoe.

Minjok Tongsin said it had nothing to do with the campaign
calling on President Park to step down held on September 21st. However,
according to the paper, the head of the group that organized the protest was
found to have sent a message of congratulations to Noh for his 70th birthday
and maintained close ties.

Noh has been running Minjok Tongsin since 1999 and agreed to
exchange stories with North Korea’s online propaganda website Uriminzokkiri in 2011, in effect becoming a mouthpiece for the North, [South Korean]
intelligence suggests.

When the Sewol ferry capsized off South Korea’s southern
coast in April, taking the lives of nearly 300 people, Minjok Tongsin claimed
“it caused by a blunder during Seoul and Washington’s joint military
exercises.” Following this, the publication slammed the South Korean government
when Seoul uncovered objects it determined to be drones from the North, calling
the incident “the second leading scheme by the South following the Cheonan
incident,” in which a South Korean naval vessel sunk as the result of an attack
by North Korea, a claim Pyongyang refutes.