A North Korean ship that makes irregular visits to Japan may have been used to convey orders from Pyongyang for the attempted assassination in 1974 of then South Korean President Park Chung Hee in Seoul, sources close to police investigations said Wednesday.
The Man Gyong Bong-92, which crosses the Sea of Japan between the North Korean port of Wonsan and Niigata, was also used for relaying espionage orders between a former senior member of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryun), the sources said. This man, then a senior executive of a trading firm, was arrested by Japanese police on suspicion of fraud in 2000.
He is alleged to have received instructions for spying activities on the Man Gyong Bong and to have traveled to the North on the ship for contacts with spy agency officials there. Police have found drafts of letters addressed to such officials at his home, the sources said.