Attack to North Korean embassy in Madrid: Explained

MADRID — A group called Cheollima Civil Defense Group is being accused by the Spanish High Court of raiding the North Korean Embassy in Madrid.

According to a statement issued by the Spanish High Court, on February 22 at 4:34 p.m. a man named Adrian Hong Chang arrived at the North Korean embassy in Madrid and requested to meet with an attache whom he had previously met.

While Chang distracted the embassy staff, members of a group called Cheollima Civil Defense, or CDC, broke into the embassy allegedly carrying machetes, knives, crowbars among other weapons and proceeded to assault and handcuff embassy personnel.

After holding the staff in the embassy's meeting room for an hour, three members of the group took the attache to a room in the embassy's basement where they allegedly pushed him to denounce the North Korean government and defect. The attache refused.

According to Spanish judge, José de la Mata, who is in charge of the case, staff was held hostage and beaten for hours by members of the group. They took two USB drives, two computers and a cellphone.

At 9:00 p.m. most of the group left the embassy in embassy vehicles they had seized. Chang and another member of the group left in another vehicle at the back of the building.

Following the raid, Chang traveled to Lisbon where he took a flight to the US. He arrived in Newark, New Jersey on February 23. According to a statement by the Cheollima Civil Defense Group, they have contacted the FBI and handed over information they extracted during the raid.

The CDC first made headlines when it helped Kim Jong-un's nephew, Kim Han-sol, escape from Macau after the assassination of his father.

In a statement, the group claims this was not an attack and state, quote, 'No one was gagged or beaten. Out of respect for the host nation of Spain, no weapons were used,' adding, 'Some of us will be imprisoned, tortured or killed in the course of this fight.'