Spy Trade-Off For Prisoners in North Korea

The US government is considering capturing several North Korean spies in South-East Asia to trade for the 2 US Journalists sentenced to 12 years hard labor.

The CIA has identified 15 North Korean nationals ostensibly operating with impunity as though they were nationals of several south-east Asian countries, including Japan and South Korea.

Taking these North Korean spies into custody will provide the US with the leverage it needs to make a deal for the release of the 2 US journalists. Of course, North Korea could abandon it’s spies on the basis that “they do not belong to North Korea” a typical refrain heard from the North Korean government.

The key to the success of this mission is the information or data that each of the North Korean spies has obtained in the course of their work and its relative value to North Korea. Each spy’s importance is considered on this basis.

If North Korea values any of the 15 agents there will be a basis for an exchange of prisoners. Cooperation of each of the south-east Asian nations in this operation is a given in that it not only will help purge spy's from their midst, particularly North Korean spy's, but the fact that it shows the solidarity south-east Asia has with the US and the rest of the World in preventing further aggressive acts by the North Koreans. Sphere: Related Content