North Korean Hacker Repatriated to Pyongyang After Detention in China, Human Rights Group Reports
A North Korean hacker, Bae Yong-ju, was reportedly tracked, detained, and forcibly repatriated to Pyongyang after attempting to defect to South Korea, according to a report by the Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG). The human rights documentation group's report, titled "North Korea's transnational repression: China," details the existence of a secret detention facility in the basement of the consular section building of the North Korean Embassy in China. This facility is allegedly used to interrogate North Korean personnel dispatched abroad who are caught attempting to defect. Bae Yong-ju, 38, a graduate of Madonghui Military University, was dispatched to China and was known for involvement in cryptocurrency theft and hacking South Korean government agencies and Chinese military institutions. He was arrested by Chinese authorities while trying to defect, interrogated for six months in Inner Mongolia, and then handed over to North Korean officials. He reportedly underwent a year of harsh interrogatio...
