60 Minutes - 05/12/2024: A Week in Israel and A Web of Intrigue

Episode Date: May 13, 2024

Reporting from Israel, correspondent Lesley Stahl delivers the latest on the consequential three-fronts where the country is currently engaged, that have heightened security threats internationally since the Oct. 7 terror attacks: Gaza in the south, Hezbollah in the north and Iran in the east. As Spain fights for the extradition of a former U.S. Marine for his attempt to aid North Korean embassy workers in defecting in Madrid, correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi interviews the man at the center, Christopher Ahn, in Southern California. Ahn details his 2019 mission with Cheollima Civil Defense to free the North Koreans and the legal hurdles he’s now facing at home and abroad as the FBI warns his life is in danger. This is a double-length segment. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart. Grocer groceries that over-deliver. It's a three-front war with the horrors of Gaza dominating headlines. Less attention is being paid to the two other fronts Israel is engaged in. Iran to the east. Another drone coming in. And as we saw firsthand, Hezbollah attacking in the north. Those are alerts? These are alerts.

To us? To stay inside? Stay inside. Tonight, you'll hear about fake kidnappings, political assassinations, and dramatic rescues. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside.

Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside.

Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Here, this American believes he is an endangered man. The FBI has told me that my life is in danger,

that the North Korean government is now and will be targeting me for assassination. I'm Leslie Stahl. I'm Bill Whitaker. I'm Anderson Cooper. I'm Sharon Alfonsi. I'm John Wertheim. I'm Cecilia Vega. I'm Anderson Cooper. I'm Sharon Alfonsi. I'm John Wertheim. I'm Cecilia Vega. I'm Scott Pelley.

Those stories and more tonight on 60 Minutes. Leslie Stahl has spent a week on the ground in Israel, where its military is engaged on three fronts, with Hezbollah in the north, with Iran in the east, and the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza that has created catastrophic civilian consequences. We're at the Erez crossing into Gaza, which is open at the moment,

though the flow of aid trucks in has slowed to a trickle. This has been a week of high drama in Israel. First off, we have the tension, increasing tension with the United States over the imminent invasion of Rafah and President Biden's punitive step in holding off the delivery of bombs that could be used in that invasion. There's been a week of intense diplomacy, with CIA Director William Burns here to try and breathe life into the ceasefire for hostages deal. It's been a month since Iran's brutal attack

with missiles and drones, but this has been a week of more hostilities. In the north, there's an intensifying of the not-much-covered battle with Hezbollah. And in the south, Israel is surrounding Rafah. Israeli tanks inched in. There were huge explosions and exchanges of fire with Hamas. More images of misery as shortages of food and fuel become dire. Refugees from the north of Gaza who had taken shelter here

were being instructed by the Israeli military, the IDF, to move again. What's going on right now is a very specific operation being run by the IDF, a very accurate one, on the east part of Rafah. Brigadier General Omer Tishler is second in command of the Israeli Air Force. If what you're saying is true, how come we're seeing what looks like indiscriminate bombing. I understand. And I feel sorry, but the bottom line is Hamas drag us into that kind of war. President Biden has been a steadfast ally and supporter of Israel, and that support of Israel is hurting him. And now the Biden administration has already stopped sending weapons, 3,000 bombs for Israeli fighter planes. Mm-hmm.

I want to talk about a specific report. What I'll talk about is our strong relationship with the United States. I know that we will keep on working together with our partners, with our friends, and with the United States. In terms of American opinion, things have shifted against Israel because of these images of all the civilians, horrible scenes of devastation. There's, I guess, two wars. There's a war on the ground, and then there's a war of public opinion. And you're losing that war.

I don't know about that. I'm telling you. Maybe you're right. What we're doing, what we're trying to do, and just to remind us where it all happened, when it all started, it started with a brutal, brutal attack by Hamas, killing 1,200 people at the 7th of October. Since then, over 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the UN. While Israel is engaged with Iran-backed Hamas along Israel's southern border, another Iran-backed group, Hezbollah, has ramped up

its attacks from the north. We're in Karayat Shemona, a city just 15 minutes from the border with Lebanon. Right now, Hezbollah is sending drones and rockets into this area, and we can hear the booms going off one after the next. So far, at least two Israeli soldiers have been killed today. And we can also hear the Israeli counterattack. Now, this fight is not as intense as the one in Gaza, but it's serious enough that Israel evacuated more than 60,000 people, emptying out the entire northern part of the country. The loss of the north feels to Israelis like a wound, an amputation, a humiliation.

We drove up to the border, to the abandoned and partly destroyed small town of Matula. This Hezbollah video shows near-daily missile attacks pummeling the town. Liat Cohen-Raviv is one of a handful of residents still in Metula who spend their days underground in this bunker complex. She led us into their war room, where they monitor incoming fire from the hillsides of Lebanon, an area also deserted. 90,000 Lebanese were forced to flee. Oh, my goodness. How long does it take for a missile to come over here?

Eight to 20 seconds. Another drone coming in. Sorry. Twenty minutes after we got there, reports of a drone overhead carrying explosives. Quickly, please. We left the war room and moved to another room. I keep hearing the noise overhead. I know we're locked in here. What's happening?

So currently we have a suicide drone. You can hear the alerts coming in as we speak. And it's above us. And what's happening now is that the army is trying to respond to it and to shoot it down. Those are alerts? These are alerts, yeah. To us? To us. To stay inside? Stay inside. Outside, the army was coming to rescue two soldiers who were wounded and would later die. After we'd been there an hour, a pause in the fighting. He wants us to leave one after the other to have the cars just drive right out of here. All of our team, come into this one. Go, come, come.

Go, let's go. We drove as fast as we could as the fighting picked up again. So would you say that you are fighting a multi-front war right now? It is, yes. General Tischler calls the fight with Hezbollah one part of a 360-degree war with Iran. He gave us a rare tour of Israeli Air Force headquarters, which they taped for us with no sound and blurred for security reasons. He showed us where he

sat the night of April 13, when Iran blitzed Israel from its own soil for the first time to retaliate for the assassination in Damascus of a top Iranian general. Iran launched a massive synchronized attack of some 170 suicide drones, over 30 cruise missiles that fly low and fast like jets, and over 120 ballistic missiles. The skies across the Middle East lit up as pilots shot down the drones and cruise missiles. Israel's advanced arrow system took down ballistic missiles in the outer atmosphere.

Only a handful of all that made it through. Until that night, Iran attacks us using its proxies from Yemen, from Iraq, from Syria, from Lebanon. But on that night, Iran attacked Israel directly. Do you think that it's possible that Iran chose to do this because it perceived Israel right now as being weak. You're arguing with the Americans, all kinds of issues with Gaza. Iran attack us with all their capabilities, and they failed. And Iran knows that we are capable of attacking at any given time. One reason Iran failed was because a surprising coalition joined forces to help Israel, including

several Arab states, like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar. I'll say that what happened on that night was historic, but we didn't do it on our own. We've done it with our partners. Are you talking about the Saudis and the Jordanians? We're flying with the U.S., with the Brits, with the French, and I'll not talk. I don't think it will be wise to talk about other countries. But, you know, that is the most interesting part of all this. It's almost unfathomable to think that these Arab countries would come into the air to defend

Israel. What's clear now is that Iran poses threat to the region, and we should act together against Iran. But you know something? The Arab countries are refusing to admit they participated. What do you make of that? We're not talking. We're acting. So less words and more action. Were you at all surprised that all those Arab countries came into this coalition with Israel,

given what's going on in Gaza? Given the context of Gaza? Yeah. Unbelievable. Tamir Ayman is former head of Israeli Army Intelligence, now head of the Institute for National Security Studies. Well, what did these other countries really do, like Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and Jordan? Well, the main issue is early detection.

If you have a network of radars spread all over the Middle East, connected into one central hub, which is maybe American one, you spread a network of detections that give you enough time to be prepared. Days after the attack, a group of Orthodox men found a ballistic missile in the desert that was successfully shot down by the army. Another one was found floating in the Dead Sea. Both were brought to this army base for forensic analysis. No one was killed that night. One girl was injured from falling debris. But four ballistic missiles did hit the Nevatim Air Force Base. Base Commander Yotam Sigler showed us one point of impact.

His base was one of Iran's main targets because it's home to Israel's fleet of stealth F-35s. Were any of your F-35s damaged in any way? No. But what they did prove to you, to themselves and to the world, is that they could send a ballistic missile from Iran and hit Israel.

Yeah. It is a big deal. So if those four had hit and they had nuclear weapons on them, this must terrify Israel. It terrifies not only Israel, but the Middle East. The U.S. and Israel consider the battle of April 13 a win, but so does Iran. President Biden issued a public warning to Iran, Don't attack. Don't do this.

Several times. And they did. They defied him. From their eyes, it's a strategic victory. They have stood against a direct threat by the most powerful nation in the world and defied it. Tamir Ayman is concerned about Israel's future with the U.S. We are worried about the internal trends inside Israel and the internal long-term trends inside the United States. What happened right now in the universities in the United States is just acceleration of a phenomena that was well observed, I think, a year ago.

That is the, we have a challenge on maintaining the common values which are the basics of those of the special connection relationship with the United States. We are drifting apart and it's a strategic threat that we need to address. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tested the special relationship this week with a public message for President Biden that the incursion into Rafah is on with or without the U.S. weapons. If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone. The week here ended with the points of contention even more acute. The UN says it could run out of food to distribute to Gaza as soon as today.

Here in Tel Aviv, the hostage families continue their vigil as some of their protests have turned into violent clashes with the police, and CIA Director William Burns left the region with no progress on the ceasefire for hostages negotiations. Sometimes historic events suck, but what shouldn't suck is learning about history. I do that through storytelling. History That Doesn't Suck is a chart-topping history-telling podcast chronicling the epic story of America, decade by decade. Right now, I'm digging into the history of incredible infrastructure projects of the 1930s,

including the Hoover Dam, the Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge, and more. The promise is in the title, History That Doesn't Suck, available on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. No one could have ever imagined a case like this one. Those words from a federal judge described the plight of Christopher Ahn, an American citizen who has managed to get himself entangled in a web of intrigue involving the United States, Spain, and North Korea. Tonight, you'll hear about fake kidnappings, political assassinations, and dramatic rescues. And you'll get a unique insight into North Korea, the world's most isolated country.

There are almost as many questions as there are answers about this strange story, but one thing seems clear. Christopher Ahn is an endangered man. We met Christopher Ahn in Southern California, where the 43-year-old son of Korean immigrants was born and raised. Ahn joined the Marines at 19 and served in Fallujah. When he returned from Iraq, he got his MBA from the University of Virginia and co-founded a consulting business. But seven years ago, the self-described do-gooder picked up an unusual hobby, helping North Korean diplomats defect.

I don't think that I could morally look at myself in the mirror if I turned away from someone who was desperately asking for help. How many North Koreans did you help defect? I always tried to lean on caution and not really talk about... But is it a handful, dozens? Give us a sense of what we're talking about. Or was this, you know, one or two, and I'm out? It's more than one or two, and it's less than dozens.

Ahn says he did it with a secretive makeshift group of activists who call themselves Chalima Civil Defense. They claim to have helped high-profile North Koreans defect. There were whispers within the North Korean diplomatic community about this strange organization that was out there doing this. Was it a loosely formed group of people? It was. And how big are we talking about? I don't even actually know the number.

Chalima's grand mission was to overthrow the North Korean dictatorship, one of the most repressive regimes in the world. The underground group was led by this man, Adrian Hong, a Korean-Mexican who held a U.S. green card. A Yale dropout, Hong became a human rights activist. Adrian Hong has said he considers himself a freedom fighter who's conducting a revolution. Did you view yourself as a freedom fighter? No, no.

Obviously, Adrian has his motivations to doing what he wants to do, but my motivation was just simply to bring some hope to people who were hopeless. In the fall of 2018, Christopher Ahn was in Italy when a Chalima team reportedly arranged for North Korea's acting ambassador and his wife to walk out of their embassy in Rome, jump into a waiting car, and speed away to freedom. In February of 2019, Christopher Ahn flew to Spain for another secret operation. Ahn says when he landed, he didn't know the details, but suspected it had something to do with the North Korean embassy in Madrid. He went straight to this safe house, where he learned

about the ambitious plan. Chalima was going to help the entire North Korean embassy, an estimated 10 people, defect. How was the mission explained to you? What I was told was that everyone in the embassy wanted to defect, but were afraid to. And so our main point of contact in the embassy had asked us to stage a kidnapping so that there would be some type of plausible reason that all of a sudden everyone in the embassy disappeared because the penalty for defecting is death. But not just for the defector, it's death for everyone the defector knows, interacts with. If you can make them look like victims,

then their families in North Korea, their friends are not in jeopardy. Correct. At any point, did you think, this sounds a little bizarre, like this sounds crazy what we're doing here, or did you think it's a good idea? Of course it sounds crazy, you know, but what the

North Korean people go through is crazy. Chalima's mission in Madrid would be its biggest yet, essentially to take over the North Korean embassy and fake a mass kidnapping. On February 22nd, around 4.30, Chalima leader Adrian Hong, posing as a businessman, went to the front door. He rings the doorbell and he's let in. And what I was told was that the door would be left open for us. And the plan was that when we received a signal for us to walk into the embassy and then begin the staged kidnapping. Moments later, screen grabs from security cameras show other members of the Chalima team, including Christopher Ahn, walking through the front door of the North Korean embassy. Where was their security? Aren't there a version of Marines posted outside? There was of the North Korean embassy. Where was their security? Aren't there a version of Marines posted outside?

There was no security outside the embassy. There was no security. When you traditionally think of an embassy, you think of like, you know, reinforced doors and guards and all these kinds of people. Their embassy is not that kind of an embassy. It's a house with a driveway and a door that leads into their little compound.

Are you carrying a weapon or members of the group? I was never carrying a weapon, but yes, there were weapons there. Fake guns. So, you know, and who would bring fake guns into a kidnapping, right? Fake guns for what he says was a fake kidnapping. Aware they were likely under surveillance,

Ahn says embassy staff members were tied up and herded into a room where he quietly addressed them. We've answered your call and we're here to help you defect. And how did they react to that? It was disbelief. It was excitement. Someone said, is this really happening? And that to me confirmed what I was told earlier that day, that everyone inside wanted to defect. Describe what you saw when you went inside the embassy. What did it look like? There was almost no furniture. It was bare. The walls were bare, except a few propaganda

kind of posters. And so the whole place was very echoey. And I opened up the refrigerator and there was nothing in there. And immediately I thought to myself, these are the elites. These are the cream of the crop of North Korea. And they have nothing to eat in there. One hour into the operation, Ahn says the Chalima team was on the verge of leaving the embassy with the North Koreans when everything changed. There's a ring at the door. And everyone's very surprised by this. And I see that it's the Spanish police. And I'm, that's shocking. What are they doing here? I go back into the room with everybody and they ask me quietly, you know, who is at the door? Why is

the doorbell ringing? So I said, the police are at the door. And then you see the color on everyone's face just turn to lily white. And they would whisper to me, very terrified, and say that they know, they know, they know. As the police waited for someone to answer, Chalima leader Adrian Hong put on a North Korean lapel pin to look like a diplomat, then opened the front door. The police informed Hong that a bloodied North Korean woman had frantically told them there was a problem inside the embassy. Hong replied nothing was wrong and shut the door. I believe that was when we realized that not everyone was accounted for. Who was missing? It was the wife of one of the members

of the embassy staff. The wife had jumped off an embassy balcony in the early minutes of the incursion. Despite an injured leg, she dragged herself onto the street where she was discovered by an alarmed Spanish motorist. After the police left, the phone all of a sudden started ringing and ringing. It would ring, ring, ring, ring, wait about five, ten seconds,

and ring, ring, ring again for hours. And in that echoey house where the phone ringing and just echoing everywhere, I don't care how courageous you think you are, that is scary. And so it is totally and completely understandable why they would be afraid. That they'd been caught. Yes. No one knew who was calling, but the fear was the North Korean government was now aware something was amiss inside its Madrid embassy. The acting ambassador, Soyun Suk, Chalima's main point of contact for the alleged mass defection, was inside the embassy and seemed spooked. Adrian said the main point of contact believes that this mission has been compromised and that he's too afraid to go.

And so we need to get out of there. Our main point of contact there gives members of the group keys to the embassy vehicles. Just after 9 p.m., four and a half hours after it entered the embassy, the Chalima team fled in the embassy vehicles. They ditched them all over Madrid. No one was caught. Christopher Ahn hailed a cab and went to Portugal and eventually back to the United States. Left behind at the embassy? Knives, handcuffs, fake guns, and the shaken staff. And now, the North Korean acting ambassador, who supposedly asked for help defecting, told Spanish police the entire embassy staff had been held against their will and beaten. At any point, did you see anyone harm any members of the North Korean embassy?

I mean, it's the exact opposite. I was a little concerned that it didn't look real enough because they're trying so hard to make sure that nobody got hurt. The Spanish authorities say it was a kidnapping. What do you say? Well, it means we did our job. We made it look real, and that was the point.

We wanted it to make it look real as possible because we had to. We had no other choice. The Chalima team took and later posted video of one of its members, not Christopher Ahn, smashing the photos of North Korean leaders inside the embassy. That raised more questions, as did the timing of the raid. It happened five days before then-President Trump met for a second time with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, a meeting some human rights activists feared would

empower the North Korean regime. Was the intention of the operation to provoke Kim Jong-un? I didn't even know that that was happening. Come on. Again. Everybody knew that was happening. I mean, if you are a North Korea watcher or an academic. You are a North Korea watcher. I am not. I am not.

I'm just a guy from LA, you know. It seems like you would be aware of that, that this was in your orbit, that you cared what was going on. You're a smart guy. The whole world is talking about these two leaders meeting. You didn you cared what was going on. You're a smart guy. The whole world is talking about these two leaders meeting. You didn't know that was going to happen? So maybe I did, but none of what I am doing is motivated by anything political or anything bigger than the fact that I was asked to help these defectors defect. Back in the U.S., Adrian Hong turned over computers and other digital data

Chalima took from the North Korean embassy to the FBI. Christopher Ahn says he also met with FBI agents at his apartment in L.A. We had a really friendly conversation. They asked me about my involvement, what happened. I tried to be as truthful as I could. You know, we ended the meeting with me asking, like, hey, is everything good? You know, should I be concerned with anything?

And their response was, oh, no, not at all. From our perspective, you were furthering American interests. So you thought, I'm good. Yeah. And then what happened? Well, about two, three weeks after that or so, one of the FBI agents called me and said that North Korea had discovered my identity and that I needed to be vigilant and that the only place in this world that I am safe is here in the United States. The FBI has told you what about the threat? The FBI has told me that my life is in danger, that the North Korean government is now and will be targeting me for assassination. Christopher Ahn maintains when he and a group of human rights activists from Chalima Civil Defense

entered the North Korean embassy in Madrid in 2019, it was all theater, part of a botched fake kidnapping to help the North Korean embassy staff who wanted to defect. In the aftermath of the incursion, the FBI warned Ahn and Chalima's leader, Adrian Hong, that their lives were in danger. I was going into this apartment. Two months after the raid in Madrid, Christopher Ahn says he was carrying a gun for protection when he came here to Adrian Hong's LA apartment to drop off security cameras. He was stunned to find U.S. Marshals inside. I opened the door and I walk in and the Marshals are in there and I surprised them. They surprised me. You know, they put a gun to my head

and said like, don't move or I'll blow your brains out. Ahn says he was handcuffed and taken to jail for his role in the raid of the North Korean embassy in Madrid. When you're in jail, are you thinking, this is a big misunderstanding and surely I'll be out any day? Or did you think, this doesn't look good? I thought I'd get bailed, right, immediately. I don't have a criminal record. I don't think I even had a parking ticket in the last 15 years.

Christopher Ahn spent 87 days behind bars in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center. Spain had issued international arrest warrants for him and seven other Chalima activists, charging them with breaking and entering, illegal restraint, and causing injuries. Spain has said it's a criminal organization. Was it a criminal organization in your mind? I mean, unless it's a crime to care and it's a crime to help people. I get wanting to help people, but why not let, you know, the CIA, let the professionals do this? I think it's because all those professionals haven't done this.

What is a diplomat supposed to do? Who are they supposed to go to if they want to escape? Are they supposed to go to the embassy of their sworn enemy? They have lived their entire lives knowing that they're being watched 24-7. And we're the only ones in the world that they trust. U.S. Marshals published a wanted poster for Chalima leader Adrian Hong, calling him armed and dangerous. He went underground and remains a fugitive today.

Christopher Ahn is now out on bail, but he's been ordered to wear an ankle monitor. His legal saga is far from over. Spain wants him to stand trial in Madrid. There is an extradition treaty between the United States and Spain. And for five years, the U.S. Department of Justice has argued that federal courts are obligated to sign off on sending Christopher on to Spain. This is what the U.S. attorney has said about the case. He said, countries have an obligation to protect diplomats. That's how it works. And for Spain,

it is a black eye to have a group come in and commit what they are charging as crimes. Is that a fair point? Does Spain have a duty to protect foreign embassies on its soil? Of course they do. Spain needs to make sure that other countries and their embassies feel safe. The United States needs to make sure that their allies know that they honor their treaties and their agreements. But North Korea is not a normal country. It's a terrorist state. Sun Yung Lee is a fellow at the Wilson Center, a Washington-based think tank. An expert on North Korea, he testified at Christopher Ahn's federal court hearing that if Ahn is extradited to Spain, he would be vulnerable to North Korean assassins. You think they will go after Christopher Ahn?

Absolutely. In Spain? Well, Spain is an advanced country, but North Korea is brazen enough to commit crimes like kidnapping and murder in several European countries. Christopher Ahn is, I'm afraid, a very high priority target for the Kim regime. And the reason is because the so-called raid on the North Korean embassy in Madrid was unprecedented. Moreover, Christopher Ahn is the person we learned later who challenged the unchallengeable, infallible, inviolable North Korean leader twice. Twice, because in a crazy twist to a crazy story,

Christopher Ahn had been involved in another rescue that outraged North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un two years before the Madrid raid. February 2017, the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia. Those are two suspected North Korean agents lurking in the departure hall. And that is Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother and critic of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. He enters the hall to catch a flight around 9 a.m. In this blurry video, Kim Jong-nam is accosted by two women who smear him in the eyes with VX nerve agent,

a banned chemical weapon. Within 30 minutes, he is dead. This assassination occurs, and it's a shock to everyone. Including the 21-year-old son of Kim Jong-nam, who was living in China. Christopher Ahn says Kim Han-sol, who was viewed as a potential heir and threat to the North Korean throne, was terrified. He got a call from North Korea that there were people coming to execute him or assassinate him. And that when he looked out the window, that all of his security disappeared. And he didn't know who to turn to for help.

He turned to Adrian Hong, the head of Chalima, for help. Hong then turned to Christopher Ahn, the former Marine, to pull off the rescue. He says, can you fly to Taiwan and meet him there and keep him safe while, you know, we're talked to different countries and try to figure out a place where he could, you know, apply for asylum. I jumped on a plane, last flight out, and arrived in Taipei. How did he know to look for you? I told Adrian that tell him to look for a guy with a black t-shirt, a Dodger hat, and I'll be going by the name Steve. And so when his flight arrived, I was standing by the gate,

and I saw someone walking toward me, and we locked eyes, and he asked me, are you Steve? And I said, yes. Don't worry, I got you. At that point, you know people may want to kill him. Sure. Were you nervous? I think it would be really weird if I wasn't nervous. Christopher Ahn says he hid Kim Han-sol, the scared nephew of the North Korean dictator,

in a private room at the airport for 36 hours until a safe haven could be found for him. These two people show up, and they said that they were from the CIA. They want to talk to Han-sol. But they know it's Han-sol that's in from the CIA. They want to talk to Han Seoul. But they know it's Han Seoul that's in there. Correct. So until I got confirmation that they were actually from the CIA, I tried to keep some distance between the two. Soon after, Adrian confirmed that they were from the CIA. And so after that, I felt relieved. He says Adrian Hong then instructed him to buy a plane ticket for Kim Han-sol to Amsterdam. You're booking tickets for him at this point? Yeah.

The CIA's not doing that? No. No. Did that strike you as strange? This whole thing is strange. Before Kim Han-sol departed, Christopher Ahn asked him if he would record a video. And so I kind of told him, hey, I know this is kind of weird, but do you mind just kind of just acknowledging that we're here to help you? And he says, okay.

And so in that little hotel room, you know, I pulled out my cracked screen iPhone 6 and took the video. We're very grateful to Adrian for his help, Adrian and his team for his help. And we hope this gets better soon, yeah. The video was seen around the world, but Kim Han-sol hasn't been seen since. Ahn says a CIA officer escorted Kim Han-sol onto the flight, but he never showed up in the Amsterdam arrivals hall. It's believed he was whisked away to a life in protective custody. When you have been associated with helping someone who was once considered

potentially the heir apparent of North Korea just disappear and find safety. You're not just a target, you're a top five target. Nayeon Rim is Christopher Ahn's attorney. She says the FBI has also told her Ahn may be killed if he leaves the United States. Who in the U.S. can stop the extradition to Spain? Anthony Blinken can stop it. Ultimately, President Joe Biden can stop it. In other administrations, the Secretary of State and the President can stop this. But historically, they haven't.

There are almost no instances where the State Department has stepped in and stopped an extradition. But there are also no cases where the extradition request is actually being driven by North Korea, a country that the United States does not have diplomatic ties with for a reason. 60 Minutes requested interviews with the State Department, the Justice Department, and the FBI

to discuss Christopher Ahn's potential extradition to Spain. All declined to be interviewed. We also reached out to Spanish officials. They also declined to speak to us. But last year, while filming outside the North Korean embassy in Madrid, we unexpectedly were confronted by the man who was Chalima's main point of contact for the alleged fake kidnapping, Soyeon Seok. No, no, no. We wanted to interview him. He wanted us arrested. Neither side got its wish. Last year, the North Korean government released a statement blasting the United States over the embassy incident and singled out one person by name, Christopher Ahn. The North Koreans called

him a felon who deserves severe punishment from every aspect. North Korea has a history. You know, the assassination that they did in Malaysia wasn't their first one. And they had been publicly embarrassed with what happened in Spain. They had been publicly embarrassed with what happened in Spain. They had been publicly embarrassed with me helping rescue Han Seoul. And when they are embarrassed, they respond fiercely. So why wouldn't I believe the FBI when they tell me that North Korea is trying to kill me? Now, the last minute of 60 Minutes. Next Sunday on 60 Minutes, Pope Francis, the Pope in a relaxed, wide-ranging, and exceedingly rare conversation with Nora O'Donnell from his home inside the Vatican guest house, Casa Santa Marta.

In an exchange that seems particularly appropriate this Mother's Day, Nora asked about women's role in the Catholic Church. Francis' answer came complete with a touch of his signature papal humor. The Church is a mother, and women in the Church are the ones who help foster that motherliness. Don't forget that the ones who never abandoned Jesus were the women. The men all fled. The night after our story, CBS News will air a one-hour primetime special with Pope Francis. I'm Cecilia Vega. We'll be back next week with another edition of 60 Minutes.