Choe Deok-geun (also spelled Choi Duck-keun or Choi Duk-gun; born November 2, 1942 ; died 1 October 1996 in

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea ...

Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai (russian: Приморский край, r=Primorsky kray, p=prʲɪˈmorskʲɪj kraj), informally known as Primorye (, ), is a federal subject (a krai) of Russia, located in the Far East region of the country and is a part of the ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

) was a South Korean consular official for the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admini ...

who was assassinated by

poison Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...

in October 1996.

Assassination

Though the official cause of Choe's death was listed as bludgeoning, he had two pencil-sized holes on his torso which suggested injection of a foreign substance into his body. When his corpse was discovered, he still had $1,200 cash in his pocket. It emerged soon after that he had poison in his bloodstream of the same type as that carried by a North Korean submarine which had infiltrated South Korean waters and landed near

Gangneung Gangneung () is a municipal city in the province of Gangwon-do, on the east coast of South Korea. It has a population of 213,658 (as of 2017).Gangneung City (2003)Population & Households. Retrieved January 14, 2006. Gangneung is the economic ...

Gangwon Gangwon or Kangwŏn may refer to: * Gangwon Province (historical), the Goryeo, Joseon Dynasty and the Japanese Korean province * Gangwon Province (South Korea), a province of South Korea, with its capital at Chuncheon. Before the division of Kore ...

the previous month; North Korea had threatened to retaliate for the killings of their

special forces Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

agents by the

South Korean Army The Republic of Korea Army (ROKA; ko, 대한민국 육군; Hanja: 大韓民國陸軍; RR: ''Daehanminguk Yuk-gun''), also known as the ROK Army or South Korean Army, is the army of South Korea, responsible for ground-based warfare. It is the l ...

. North Korea denied all involvement and accused the South of fabricating evidence in order to frame the North. Some news reports at the time suggested that the North Koreans had hired a

Russian Mafia Russian organized crime or Russian mafia (, ), otherwise known as Bratva (), is a collective of various organized crime elements originating in the former Soviet Union. The initialism OPG is Organized Criminal (''prestupnaya'' in Russian) Gr ...

hitman to actually carry out the murder.

Aftermath

As a result of his death, South Korea's

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade may refer to: * Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade (Jamaica) * Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (New Zealand) * Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (South Korea) South Korea's Ministry of ...

allegedly instructed their personnel to refrain from contacting with or providing assistance to

North Koreans in Russia North Koreans in Russia consist mainly of three groups: international students, guest workers, and North Korean defectors, defectors and refugees. A 2006 study by Kyung Hee University estimated their total population at roughly 10,000. Aside fro ...

, even

refugees A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

, for fear that they too could be murdered. Some analysts believe that the North Korean government chose to delay announcing their 24 August arrest and detention of American citizen Evan Hunziker until around the time of Choe's murder in an attempt to divert attention.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choe, Deok-geun 1950s births 1996 deaths Assassinated diplomats Assassinated South Korean people Deaths by poisoning People murdered in Russia South Korean diplomats South Korean expatriates in Russia South Korean people murdered abroad North Korea–South Korea relations