https://www.nknews.org/2019/03/what-to-make-of-a-mysterious-break-in-at-the-north-korean-embassy-in-madrid/
Third, until late 2017 the North Korean embassy in Spain was headed by Kim Hyok Chol, a North Korean diplomat who since early 2019 has been in charge of negotiations with the U.S. on the nuclear issues — serving, essentially, as a counterpart to Stephen Biegun.
It is a safe bet that some of the computers and papers taken from the embassy do contain some information related to this diplomat, whose background and personality, until recently, was not widely known
………
Let’s begin with the idea that the attack was initiated, planned, and executed by “Cheollima Civil Defense” – or, for that matter, any other independent group of a revolutionary/terrorist character (the line has been always blurred, and largely depends on one’s personal sympathies).
This is a romantic idea, but not particularly plausible. To begin with, there are only a handful North Korean defectors who have the skills with guns and the militant tendencies to carry out such an attack — most refugees (well over half) are poorly-educated middle-aged women from the provinces.
Those few defectors who have both the conviction and the skills to fight are likely known to the interested intelligence services, and constantly watched.
They are both potential assets (to be used to do certain things which regular spies would rather avoid) and a potential threat, since their strongly-held convictions might inspire them to do things that are adventurous and destabilizing.
There is little doubt that if such people began seriously talking about creating a clandestine group, they would be watched even more carefully, that such a group would be infiltrated from the very beginning, and that it would remain under round-the-clock surveillance.
To complicate things further, one should remember that these North Korean militants normally speak little or no English and have only a limited experience of operating outside East Asia.