Adrian Hong Chang Yun Suk So On 22 February 2019 at the Embassy of North Korea in Madrid, the political group Free Joseon, which is opposed to the incumbent Kim Jong Un regime of North Korea, is alleged by Spanish and American authorities to have attacked and raided the embassy, while the group maintains that they were invited in to facilitate a high-level defection.

[1][2] The incident is alleged to have been violent; the suspected perpetrators purportedly possessed knives and replica guns, and a number of embassy staff were treated for injuries.

The Government of North Korea described the incident as an act of terrorism and demanded an international investigation; the embassy and its attaché, however, did not report the attack or any injuries sustained by the staff to the Spanish police.

[5] Free Joseon is alleged to be composed primarily of North Korean defectors,[6] and claims to have "hundreds of members across ten countries", says Chestnut Greitens.

[7] The incident took place just before the US President Donald Trump was due to meet Kim Jong Un for further talks on the DPRK's proposed denuclearisation program;[4] a previous summit held in January 2019 in Hanoi, Vietnam, had failed and relations between North Korea and the US had deteriorated further.

[4] The DPRK's embassy in Madrid, located at 43 Darío Aparicio[9] in the quiet,[10] affluent northern suburb of Aravaca,[11] consists of a two-story[12] "luxurious villa"[13] with a swimming pool[12] and is surrounded by pine trees.

[13] According to El País, since the previous ambassador Kim Hyok-chol was expelled in 2017, only one diplomat and two assistants with their immediate families living a relatively "spartan" existence were resident at the time of the attack.

[13] An alumnus of Yale University, Adrian Hong Chang was instrumental in the foundation of the US-based human-rights group Liberty in North Korea[15] and also the Joseon Institute.

[21] In contrast to earlier reports, Free Joseon later stated the group was invited in[18] by members of the embassy staff to facilitate a high-level defection that would superficially appear as if it were a kidnapping to delude the North Korean government.

[14]It was an unusual sight in the normally quiet streets of the wealthy Valdermarín neighbourhood on the edge of Madrid: an Asian woman, badly injured, stumbling down the pavement pleading for help.

[23] Investigators said the gang must have been responsible for lowering the power and dimming the street lights in the road at the front of the embassy; other security systems around the building were also found to have been neutralised.

[13] The previous DPRK Ambassador to Spain Kim Hyok-chol had been expelled by the Spanish Government in September 2017 in response to North Korea's continued testing of nuclear missiles in defiance of the international community.

[10] It was noted that the computers and telephones that were seized by the attackers would be a "treasure trove" to intelligence services around the world for the information and communications they probably contained,[4] and would be "eagerly sought after".

[23] Tufts University professor Sung-Yoon Lee believed it likely the seized materials could contain valuable information about any recent plans by the DPRK to evade the sanctions against its government, claims that were repeated on Fox News by Gordon G.

[28] The raid represents the most ambitious operation to date for an obscure organization that seeks to undermine the North Korean regime and encourage mass defections.

[18] News outlets said neither the embassy nor any of the affected staff made an official report or complaint to the Spanish police,[4] although one woman, who is thought to be the one who had escaped, said she had been assaulted.

The respective governments made no public comment on the incident until Spanish daily newspaper El País reported that at least two of the perpetrators had links to the CIA.

[23] The identities and nationalities of the Free Joseon members were called "particularly sensitive" in light of the delicate relations between the US and North Korea at the time,[4] appearing to be US involvement with an invasion of extraterritorial immunity.

[4] Judge de la Mata[21] issued international arrest warrants for Hong Chang and Ryu[15] in March 2019,[12] and stated that he would be formally requesting their extradition when they were served.

[5] According to DPRK defector Thae Yong-ho,[note 6] the computer equipment taken by the group could have included decryption software essential for secure communications between Pyongyang and its embassies and missions.

They entered the building and performed a visual search, in the course of which they found a substantial cache of automatic weaponry consisting mainly of rifles and shotguns, but also short arms.

He also accused de la Mata of irresponsibility in releasing the names of individuals engaged in "opposition to a brutal regime that routinely and summarily executes its enemies".

[17] Free Joseon subsequently stated on their website they had "received a request for help from comrades in a certain Western country" that involved "a highly dangerous situation".

[32] The North Korean government did not make a public comment[23] until 37 days later,[32] when the foreign ministry called the assault a "grave terrorist attack"[23] and suggested FBI involvement.

[5] They said they would wait patiently and acknowledge the Spanish investigation in line with international law, although former North Korean diplomat Thae Yong-ho said the DPRK government would be "putting pressure" on Spain over the incident.

Hong Chang, a resident of the US but a citizen of Mexico,[12] apparently telephoned the FBI on 27 February[12]—the opening day of the US/DPRK summit[26]—to make a statement giving the assailants' view of events.

[12] The group subsequently announced they had "shared information of enormous potential value under mutually agreed terms of confidentiality" with the FBI,[16] handing over everything they had taken from the embassy,[16] including audiovisual material.

[15] The FBI refused to deny or confirm the existence of the material or whether it was part of an investigation, although they emphasised the "good, working relationship" the Bureau enjoys with its Spanish counterpart.

[32] A video claimed to have been filmed during the incident was uploaded to the group's website and to YouTube; it shows individuals smashing portraits of leading members of the North Korean regime.

Free Joseon failed to gain immunity from prosecution for its members who had been involved in the incident;[16] journalist Laura Bicker notes that Hong Chang is "undoubtedly a wanted man" by the Spanish High Court and probably by Pyongyang.