A North Korean Agent In Europe and China in the 1980s

Kim Hyun Hee (pictured after her arrest) was trained for several years as a North Korean spy before she blew up a South Korean plane in 1987.

Part of that training involved living in European countries and working with a much older colleague Kim Seung Il who passed off as either her father or adopted father when the two travelled together overseas.

In her memoirs, Kim recalled that in Copenhagen and Paris, she was repelled by the "abundance of pornography shops and the frequent appearance of prostitutes." In Switzerland, she was disgusted by "what seemed to be the flauntings of absurdly wealthy people – the mink coats, the Daimler limousines, the diamond earrings."

"But I had been raised for 22 years to believe that everything about the West was evil, so I was seeing this new world through well-programmed eyes," Kim wrote. (The Tears of My Soul, William Morrow and Company, 1993).

Yet Kim admitted that she could not remain unimpressed by Europe's beauty, where "Switzerland in particular was breathtaking. I fell in love with the Alps the moment I saw them, and our hotel on Lake Geneva seemed right out of a postcard."

Kim was also impressed by how chic women in Paris were, and was amazed that "middle-aged women dressed as daringly as 20 year olds."

"These pleasures were offset, however, when my purse was snatched by a motorcycle rider as I was crossing a street. Not to mention the incident when a Parisian cabbie cheated us by running up a hundred-dollar fare because of our ignorance."

The two Kims were given 10,000 thousand dollars to cover their expenses, "and it was expected that we would bring gifts back to North Korea for our departmental superiors as well as for our president."

This was said to be standard practice whereby field agents must "show their honor at being sent abroad."

"The gifts were unremarkable by western standards – they tended to be practical things like ballpoint pens and cigarette lighters, which were scarce in North Korea. Technically we were not allowed to spend any money on ourselves, except as needed to carry out our assignment, but Mr. Kim bought himself an expensive gold-plated watch anyway. Watches were a prized commodity in North Korea, and to own one was a mark of respect. Kim would later tell me that his family considered it to be the finest purchase he had ever made."

"I myself had a longing to buy a small mermaid statue in Geneva, but since the mermaid's torso was bare, I knew that I could never have brought it back to Pyongyang. Instead I bought a necklace with a gold cross hanging from the end. Its symbolism meant nothing to me, but Seung Il, though he said nothing, glared at me when he saw me wear it. Interestingly, though, I was commended for it by Chief Kwang upon my return. He considered it perfect as part of my disguise. I of course refrained from mentioning that I had bought it purely for pleasure."

"I must admit that some of my "professionalism" as an agent, if indeed I'd had any to begin with, sort of faded away in Switzerland. The landscape had a fairy-tale quality, and I did not want to leave."

Even then-Communist Hungary impressed Kim as food, clothing and luxury items were far more abundant than in North Korea. Kim remembered being awestruck by the variety of goods being sold.

As for China, Kim recalled that the Middle Kingdom was not as strange as she had earlier feared since it was a neighbor of North Korea and communist as well.

Yet she was "depressed" to discover that the Chinese lived better than the North Koreans.

"It seemed to me that North Korea was the poorest country on earth. In China the shops were at least fully stocked and the restaurants were cheap and well serviced."