Choe Su-yong
Choe Su-yong |
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Choe Su-yong is a South Korean who was formerly a senior intelligence official.[1] Following his retirement he has been a source of information on the secretive Kim family who have governed North Korea since the end of World War 2.
In particular, North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un has been accompanied by his daughter, on ceremonial and official occasions, for several years. Reporters didn't know who she was, or her age, until Kim's friend, basketball star Dennis Rodman, said it was his daughter, and identified her as "Kim Ju-ae".[1] It was Choe who said that he unintentionally misled the press, and that was not her name.
It was Choe who explained that Kim Ju-ae's older brother, Kim Ryong-ju, was thin and frail, in contrast to his half brother Kim Il-bong, roughly the same age, who enjoyed robust health.[2]
In 2024 Choe offered an explanation for the charges faced by Sue Mi Terry.[3] Terry, a former analyst for The White House and CIA became a professor and consultant, after she left government service. She was charged under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Lobbying is legal. Lobbying for foreign governments is legal -- provided the individual registers as the Foreign Agents Registration Act, but would have made her ineligible for some of her consultancy contracts. Choe suggested an undercover spy for North Korea photographed Terry's handwritten notes, and leaked them, so North Korea could retaliated against her.
According to the South China Morning Post Choe retired from South Korea's National Intelligence Service in 2010 after serving in counter-intelligence for two decades.[1]
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2
"Rodman's fault Kim Jong-un's daughter known by wrong name: ex-South Korean spy". South China Morning Post. 2023-11-17. Archived from the original on 2023-11-17. Retrieved 2026-03-01.
Choe claims Kim introduced his daughter to Dennis Rodman, saying in Korean that ‘jeo-ae’ (that girl) is his daughter. Rodman misunderstood ‘jeo-ae’ as her name
- ↑
"Kim Jong-un Reportedly Has 'Pale and Thin' Firstborn Son Kept Away from Public". KBS WORLD Radio. 2024-02-26. Archived from the original on 2024-02-27. Retrieved 2026-03-01.
The Daily Mail last Friday referenced a report by the Korea Times in which a retired official from the National Intelligence Service(NIS), Choe Su-yong, who, citing sources from the North, said that the son's “unappealing physical appearance seems to have discouraged Kim from disclosing his son in public.” Choe reportedly added that unlike Kim himself and his daughter, who's “plump and well-fed,” his son is said to be “pale and thin.”
- ↑
Константин Асмолов (2024-09-02). "Spy scandal in South Korea Part 2. The exposure of an ex-CIA operative working for South Korea's National Intelligence Service". New Eastern Outlook. Archived from the original on 2024-09-08. Retrieved 2026-03-01.
Choe Su-yong, a former NIS agent who worked on covert operations relating to North Korea, claims that the photos of Terry’s handwritten notes could have been passed to the FBI by an NIS mole. Moreover, such moles may be operated by North Korea. The attack on Sue Mi Terry could have been the result of a covert intelligence operation by undercover North Korean agents following the release of the 2023 documentary “Beyond Utopia.”