The North Korean spy, pretending to be a member of the North Korean trade delegation in Belarus, thought he was photographing a secret scientific report on missile technology when he clicked a small camera in a dirty garage in the Dnieper, the birthplace of the Ukrainian rocket industry of the Soviet period, Andrew Higgins in the American newspaper The New York Times.

"However, the report he photographed was fake, he was part of a special operation organized by the Ukrainian special services to prevent the leakage of missile secrets, and now the spy, 56-year-old Lee The Kiel, is in prison after being convicted of espionage," reads the article. - He sleeps on the lower bunk in the cell, which he shares with eight Ukrainian prisoners, four of whom were convicted for the murder of ".

About his arrest in July 2011 in eastern Ukraine, along with his other colleague, the 46-year-old North Korean spy Ryu Song Chelem, first reported earlier this month CNN. This story shows the extent to which Pyongyang is scouring the world in search of foreign technology to revive the long-range missile program that is experiencing difficulties, the author.

"Although Li speaks Russian well, which is widespread in Ukraine, he does not talk much, his cellmates told him, but television watches a lot, especially news about the accelerating progress of the North Korean missile program, to which he tried to serve without result," the journalist reports.. - Instead of valuable secrets, he received an eight-year prison term for espionage. In his cell on the fourth floor in prison number 8 of Zhytomyr, a massive brick building built during the reign of the last Russian tsar, there is cable television ". When the author asked Lee in an interview whether he was proud of the recent succession of successful launches of North Korea, a spy who had a family in Pyongyang remained pale and said he did not want to talk about missiles, according to Higgins.

"After a series of failed tests of the mid-range missile" Musudan, "which was aimed at by American subversive efforts, last year, North Korea suddenly and mysteriously gained success. Trying to explain the mysterious success of North Korea, some experts pointed a finger at Ukraine, in particular, at the Yuzhmash missile plant and its design bureau Yuzhnoye in the Dnieper, the city where Li and Ryu were arrested,. "Ukraine categorically denies having admitted the leakage of missile technology, pointing to the arrest and conviction of two spies as evidence that the country is capable of fighting North Koreans hunting missile secrets".

"While Li and Ryu are nearing the end of their prison term, their release is planned for next September, as they were convicted of a two-day sentence for each day of pre-trial detention," Ukraine asks what will happen to them further, "the newspaper said.. - None of the men, according to their cellmates and prison officials, expressed their eagerness to return to North Korea, fearing what awaits them and their families. Ukrainian officials believe that they can seek political asylum in Ukraine or another country after liberation, although none of them has yet asked to remain ".