RP strives to protect North Korean defector<\/p>\n
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (DPA): Police at air and sea ports
\nin the southern Philippines boosted security yesterday to prevent
\nthe assassination of a visiting North Korean defector by foreign
\nagents trying to enter the country through its south.<\/p>\n
Since North Korean defector Hwang Jang Yop, 73, landed in the
\nPhilippines Tuesday, Immigration has sent out a nationwide alert
\non the possible entry of foreign assassins, said Police
\nSuperintendent Ybbar Paddao, chief of the Aviation Security
\nCommand in the south.<\/p>\n
Paddao said his group had been coordinating with immigration
\nofficials to monitor the possible entry of North Korean agents,
\nhitmen from the Japanese Red Army or other foreign agents who
\nmight be trying to kill Hwang, once a top communist ideologue in
\nPyongyang.<\/p>\n
"It's very possible that assassins may have used other
\ncountries such as Malaysia or Indonesia because we have one
\nairport in Davao City operating international flights," Paddao
\nsaid. Davao is the largest city in the southern Philippines.<\/p>\n
The government has confirmed that Hwang arrived in the
\nPhilippines Tuesday after he left Beijing. The defector
\nreportedly was on an unscheduled Air China flight that landed at
\nClark International Airport, 90 kilometers north of Manila.<\/p>\n
Philippine officials, who asked not to be named, said Hwang,
\nan aide who also defected and three other men who were on the
\nplane were met at Clark by a South Korean group.<\/p>\n
Reports said Hwang was then taken by military helicopter to
\nthe northern city of Baguio. But government officials, including
\nPhilippine President Fidel Ramos, have refused to confirm Hwang's
\nwhereabouts for security reasons.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, foreign affairs officials in Manila denied reports
\nFriday that Hwang was staying in an American facility in Baguio
\nand that the United States was involved in transporting the North
\nKorean defector to South Korea, where he is seeking asylum.<\/p>\n
Hwang was on a trade mission for North Korea in Beijing when
\nhe took refuge in the tightly secured South Korean embassy for a
\nmonth while officials from China and the two Koreas negotiated a
\nsolution to the tense situation.<\/p>\n
Foreign Affairs Secretary Domingo Siazon earlier said the
\nPhilippines had agreed to provide a transit point for Hwang to
\nhelp avoid any potential conflict in the Korean Peninsula.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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