North Korea embassy raider is regime change advocate

來源: 開云體育手機app下載 時間: 2023-02-02 12:45:23

An outside view of the Embassy of North Korea building in Madrid, Spain, March 27. The Cheollima Civil Defense organization committed to overthrowing North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un has claimed it was behind a raid at Pyongyang's embassy in Spain back on Feb. 22. EPA

Adrian Hong, who allegedly led an attack on North Korea's embassy in Madrid, is a longtime US-based advocate of regime change in Pyongyang whose sources of financial support are murky.

Spain's National Court identified the leader of the group which invaded the embassy and stole records and computers on February 22 as 35-year-old Mexican national Adrian Hong Chang.

According to the court, he went by the name "Matthew Chao" while in Madrid, booked his Uber under the name "Oswaldo Trump", and led the group of 10 who stormed the embassy wielding knives and fake guns.

After the raid he allegedly flew to New York and has not been heard from since.

In the United States, he goes by the name Adrian Hong.

Well-spoken, with detailed knowledge of North Korea's politics and economy,

Hong in 2005 co-founded the California-based Liberty in North Korea group (LiNK), which helps resettle refugees from the country.

In December 2006 he was arrested together with two other field workers in China as they tried to help six North Koreans escape their country.

They were released after being held for 10 days.

But not long after that Hong left LiNK and began campaigning for human rights and regime change in Pyongyang, presenting himelf as chief executive of a consultancy called Pegasus Strategies LLC.