Beijing, Sept. 25, 2021 (AFP) – Canadians Michael Spavor, an expert on North Korea, and Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat accused of espionage, were released and returned to their home country on Saturday (25 ), ending a bitter three-year dispute with China.
At the same time, the chief financial officer of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, Meng Wanzhou, also returned to the Asian country after an unprecedented crisis known as “hostage diplomacy.”
– Michael Spavor – He met Kim Jong Un and arranged visits to Pyongyang for former basketball player Dennis Rodman. Canadian Michael Spavor, sentenced to 11 years in prison in China for espionage, is an expert on North Korea.
The man, one of the few Westerners to reach the upper echelons of North Korean power, has served as an intermediary for a decade between the authorities in the isolated country and foreign businessmen, organizations and tourists.
For example, he organized Dennis Rodman’s visits to North Korea, during which the former Chicago Bulls star struck up a surprising friendship with the country’s leader Kim Jong Un, to whom he even congratulated on his birthday.
It was all possible thanks to the closeness between Spavor and the North Korean leader, who have appeared together in numerous photos.
Born in Calgary, in the province of Alberta (Western Canada), Spavor fell in love with North Korea during a stay in Seoul in the late 1990s.
Years later, in 2005, he spent several months in the North Korean capital working for a Canadian association. Since then, and until his arrest at the end of 2018, he has not stopped going to Pyongyang.
Michael Spavor was based in the Chinese city of Dandong, where he was tried in mid-March. The city is located on the border with North Korea and is the main crossing point between the two countries.
The Canadian is director of the “Paektu Cultural Exchange”, which is described in his Facebook account as “an international non-governmental organization that facilitates sporting, cultural, tourism and trade exchanges” with North Korea.
“Paektu” is the name of the highest mountain in North Korea, where Kim Jong Il, the father of the current ruler, was born.
Spavor, who speaks Korean fluently, was an intermediary for foreign companies wishing to locate in Pyongyang.
His mediation was particularly helpful, as North Korea is subject to numerous international sanctions due to its nuclear program.
– Michael Kovrig – Former diplomat in Beijing, Canadian Michael Kovrig worked as a consultant for the International Crisis Group until his arrest on December 10, 2018.
He shares his experience on China and regularly publishes geopolitical analyzes for specialized media.
A graduate in international relations, the 49-year-old career diplomat has been detained for a sabbatical year.
He had previously worked at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing, Hong Kong and the United Nations. He speaks Mandarin and people around him describe him as a private person.
To keep morale up, he devoured books, especially on philosophy, but also “biographies of people who have gone through the same kind of ordeal as him,” his wife Vina Nadjibulla, who lives in Toronto, told AFP. .
Son of a Czech and a Hungarian, this fan of Leonard Cohen and the British rockers Sisters of Mercy has also devoted himself to music; in his youth he briefly participated in a punk band.
Kovrig was being held in a cell measuring less than 10 square meters, according to media reports, where he tried to walk 7,000 steps a day, according to his wife.
During the six months they spent in prison, Kovrig and Spavor endured hours of interrogation and were forced to sleep with the lights on, several people familiar with the matter told AFP.
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