Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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September 3, 2008

South Korea Allows Top Defector to Travel Overseas
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1E00A4A:A6F02AD83191E1609139A947EF8EE1DBF47489ACC27D21EE&
 
Hwang Jang-yop, 85, only been allowed to travel overseas once since his
1997 defection 
Hwang Jang-Yop, a former N. Korea communist party secretary, during a
conference in Seoul on human rights in North Korea (File)South Korean
officials say the highest-ranking North Korean defector, a sharp critic
of the North's leaders, will be allowed to freely travel overseas. Until
now, South Korean officials refused to let Hwang Jang-yop travel abroad,
fearing he would become a target for assassination. Since his 1997
defection, Hwang has only been allowed to travel overseas once. The
85-year-old was the architect of the North's philosophy of ("juche" or)
self-reliance, and he once tutored Pyongyang's current leader Kim Jung
Il. He later became a fierce critic of the North. Hwang has been kept at
a secret location under tight security since he defected. Last week,
when South Korean officials announced the arrest of a North Korean spy,
they revealed that one of the spy's objectives was to locate Hwang.


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