Adrian Hong and Free Joseon: the Madrid raid, the cases and what remains open

Adrian Hong is a Mexican-born activist, raised in San Diego, who co-founded the student group Liberty in North Korea in 2004 and later built a secret network dedicated to ending the Kim regime (The New Yorker). The group was first known as Cheollima Civil Defense and renamed itself Free Joseon in March 2019, a week after members entered North Korea’s embassy in Madrid (The New Yorker). Spain charged Hong and others with crimes including unlawful entry, illegal detention and robbery; the United States arrested one of them, Christopher Ahn, and spent seven years deciding whether to hand him over (Spain’s judiciary).

Bradley Hope has reported on the group since his time at The Wall Street Journal and told the full story in The Rebel and the Kingdom (Crown, 2022). This guide collects that work, separates court findings from the parties’ claims, and records what has become public since the book went to press.

Last reviewed: 10 November 2026. The most important change since the book: in March 2026 a federal judge in Los Angeles blocked Christopher Ahn’s extradition to Spain, and in May the government told the court it would not appeal (court order; government status report). Later that month the United States also dropped its extradition case against Adrian Hong (court filing); we have found no report that Spain has closed its case against him.

Start with our reporting · Watch and listen · Timeline · Free Joseon · Madrid · The Spanish case · Christopher Ahn · Adrian Hong · Kim Jong-nam · North Korea · Since the book · Open questions · Read the book

Start with our reporting

These pieces form the core of our coverage, in publication order. One requires a free account; this guide is intended to remain open to everyone.

• The book: 1 November 2022. The Rebel and the Kingdom: The True Story of the Secret Mission to Overthrow the North Korean Regime follows Hong from his student activism to the Madrid operation. It went to press before the Hungarian arrest, the 2025 release in Spain and the 2026 ruling described below.
• The first ruling: 10 May 2022. “The Heartbreak of Christopher Ahn” covers the magistrate judge’s decision to certify Ahn’s extradition while criticising how the case reached her court. It links the 2022 order. That decision was later found to be wrong on key points.
• The book launch edition: 3 November 2022. “The Rebel and the Kingdom” carries the book’s prologue and a podcast interview with Ahn. It requires a free account.
• The excerpt: 14 November 2022. “The Near-Perfect North Korean Embassy Raid That Went Sour” in The Daily Beast is an extract from the book on Hong’s early rescues.
• The 2026 ruling: 14 April 2026. “A Judge Finally Said No” explains why a federal judge blocked Ahn’s extradition. It was written while an appeal was still possible; see the Christopher Ahn case for what happened next.

Earlier outside reporting by Bradley includes “Inside the Secretive Group Trying to Bring Down North Korea’s Regime” in The Wall Street Journal in April 2020.

Watch and listen

The audio version ran on the Whale Hunting podcast on 26 June 2024 (Spotify).

A dated timeline

Cheollima Civil Defense and Free Joseon

Hong co-founded Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) as a Yale undergraduate, launching it in early 2004 (The New Yorker). In December 2006 he and two LiNK members were arrested in China while helping six North Koreans seek asylum (The Daily Beast). He left LiNK in 2008 and told The New Yorker he started Cheollima Civil Defense in 2010 without announcing it (The New Yorker).

The group first became public in March 2017, when it released a 40-second video of Kim Han-sol, the son of the murdered Kim Jong-nam; South Korea’s intelligence service confirmed his identity to CNN (CNN). On 1 March 2019 it renamed itself Free Joseon and declared a provisional government for North Korea (The New Yorker; France 24). Weeks later, after its role in Madrid became public, it said it was temporarily suspending its work because of “speculative” media reports (Reuters).

Hong told The New Yorker that Free Joseon was not part of any government and that he had never worked for or been paid by the CIA or FBI; the magazine said it found no evidence that he was employed by either agency (The New Yorker). Membership claims, from hundreds to thousands of people in ten or more countries, have not been independently verified (The New Yorker).

The Madrid embassy incident

On 22 February 2019, a group entered North Korea’s embassy in Madrid. The accounts differ sharply, and the book tells the inside story; this section records only what each side has said on the record.

Spain’s account comes from Judge José de la Mata, who lifted secrecy on his investigation on 26 March 2019. He said a group of ten, led by a Mexican citizen living in the United States, identified by the initials A.H.C., held people inside for several hours, restrained them with handcuffs and cable ties, beat them, and left with computers, hard drives and embassy vehicles. He also said the leader flew from Lisbon to Newark and contacted the FBI in New York on 27 February (Spain’s judiciary; The New York Times; El País).

Free Joseon’s lawyer, Lee Wolosky, said in April 2019 that “there was no ‘attack’ or forced entry” and that the group expected to present evidence contradicting North Korea’s account (ABC News). Hong told The New Yorker that the group went in because someone inside had asked for help defecting, and that someone let them in (The New Yorker). The group has said it handed material from the embassy to the FBI (BBC News).

The US government denied any involvement (BBC News).

The Spanish case

Spain’s National Court charged the group with unlawful entry, illegal detention, injuries, threats, document forgery and robbery by a criminal organisation (Spain’s judiciary). Spain then asked the United States to extradite Hong and Ahn.

The case gained a new suspect in 2023. A Budapest court ordered a South Korean man surrendered to Spain in November 2023 (NK News), and on 24 November a Spanish judge sent him to prison pending trial. The court said FBI information had identified him and four others (Spain’s judiciary; Europa Press). Free Joseon responded that the Madrid operation had been carried out “exclusively to rescue our people” (Free Joseon).

In March 2025 Judge Santiago Pedraz released him for lack of evidence after the prosecutor said his identity as a participant could not be established with certainty (El Periódico). Our reporting indicates he was a member of the group. We have not named him: the case against him did not proceed, and Hong has said the FBI warned of North Korean threats against members (The New Yorker). Our April 2026 edition reported that Spain’s case had not been withdrawn, and we have found no public report that it has since been closed.

The Christopher Ahn case

Christopher Ahn, a former US Marine, was arrested in April 2019 on Spain’s extradition request, the same week federal agents searched Hong’s apartment (Marine Corps Times). He was released on $1.3 million bail with home confinement in July 2019 (NK News).

On 9 May 2022, Magistrate Judge Jean Rosenbluth certified that Ahn could be extradited on charges including breaking and entering, illegal restraint, injuries and threats, but found no probable cause on the robbery and criminal-organisation charges (court order via FindLaw). The same order found that later statements from embassy staff, translated by the acting ambassador, Yun Sok So, were “almost certainly coerced”, and recorded that the FBI had told Ahn’s lawyers he should not leave the United States for his safety (court order via FindLaw).

Ahn challenged that decision. In an order filed on 31 March 2026 and made public in April, US District Judge Fernando Aenlle-Rocha of the Central District of California blocked his extradition, finding that the magistrate had clearly erred on probable cause and on whether the conduct was a crime in both countries. He also found that sending Ahn to Spain would expose him to danger in a way that violated due process. He held that extradition was also barred by the humanitarian exception to extradition “if it exists”: the Ninth Circuit has acknowledged such an exception may exist but has never relied on it (court order; NK News). The order was stayed for 35 days to allow an appeal (court order).

In May 2026 Ahn said on his support website that “the DOJ and State Department chose not to appeal the court’s decision to stop my extradition, and I am now officially free” (Free Chris Ahn).

The court record bears him out. On 4 May 2026 the government filed a status report telling the court that it “will not seek appellate review” of the order, and that there was therefore no need to delay exonerating Ahn’s bond (status report). No notice of appeal appears on the court docket, which we checked on 10 November 2026.

Where Adrian Hong stands

A US court issued a warrant for Hong’s arrest on 9 April 2019, after Spain’s request, and the US Marshals later described him as “armed and dangerous” (ABC News). The Justice Department said it formed that view only after further investigation following Spain’s request (ABC News). Hong told The New Yorker that the FBI had warned him of credible North Korean threats in April 2019 and advised him to go underground (The New Yorker).

In 2024, CBS’s 60 Minutes described Hong as a fugitive; the Justice Department, State Department and FBI declined interview requests (CBS News).

On 29 May 2026 the government asked the court to dismiss its extradition complaint and the arrest warrant, saying that “following consultations between the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of State, the United States no longer intends to pursue extradition”. Hong’s lawyer did not object, and Magistrate Judge Anna Y. Park dismissed both that day (application; order; VOA Korean).

The filing does not say whether Spain has withdrawn its request. We have found no public report that Spain’s case against Hong, or its international warrant for his arrest, has been closed, and his whereabouts remain unknown (VOA Korean).

Kim Jong-nam and Kim Han-sol

Kim Jong-nam, Kim Jong-un’s half-brother, was killed with VX nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur airport in February 2017. The United States concluded in March 2018 that North Korea’s government ordered the attack (BBC News). The two women charged with the killing were not convicted of murder: Malaysia dropped the charge against Siti Aisyah in March 2019, and Doan Thi Huong pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was released in May 2019. Four men believed to be North Koreans who left Malaysia on the day remain wanted (BBC News).

After the murder, Hong’s network helped Kim Han-sol, his mother and sister leave Macau; Ahn met them in Taipei and travelled with them toward Amsterdam (The New Yorker). The magazine reported, citing several sources, that the CIA then took the family elsewhere; the CIA declined to comment (The New Yorker). The family’s location has not been publicly confirmed.

How North Korea responded

On 31 March 2019, North Korea’s foreign ministry called the Madrid incident “a grave terrorist attack”, demanded an investigation and said it was watching rumours of FBI involvement (BBC News; Yonhap).

In April 2023 its Madrid embassy demanded that the United States extradite Ahn, calling him “a felon who deserves severe punishment”, and asked for an apology and compensation (Reuters; NK News). In November 2023 it was reported that North Korea would close the embassy, then staffed by a single diplomat, and handle Spanish affairs from Italy (The Diplomat in Spain). We found no public North Korean response to the 2026 ruling.

What has changed since the book

The Rebel and the Kingdom was published on 1 November 2022 (Penguin Random House). Since then:

• North Korea announced it would close its Madrid embassy (November 2023) (The Diplomat in Spain).
• Hungary surrendered a South Korean suspect to Spain, who was jailed and then freed for lack of evidence (November 2023 to March 2025) (NK News; El Periódico).
• Ahn gave his account on 60 Minutes (May 2024) (CBS News).
• A federal judge blocked Ahn’s extradition (March 2026), and the government told the court it would not appeal (May 2026) (court order; status report).
• The United States dismissed its extradition complaint and arrest warrant for Hong (May 2026) (court filing; VOA Korean).

What remains unresolved

• Whether Spain’s international warrant for Hong is still active, and where he is.
• Whether Spain’s case against Hong and the other suspects remains open after the 2025 release and the end of both US extradition cases.
• What the FBI did with the material the group says it handed over, and what it knew in advance.
• The fate of the embassy official Free Joseon says asked for help.
• Where Kim Han-sol and his family are.

Read the book

The court records show what was alleged and decided. The Rebel and the Kingdom tells how Hong built his network, why Ahn followed him, and what happened inside the embassy, from interviews with the people who were there. Find it at Penguin Random House.

Reporting notes and contact

This guide distinguishes court findings from the accounts of Free Joseon, North Korea, and the US and Spanish governments. A complaint or charge is a claim, not a finding. Our earlier editions remain as published; this page supplies a dated route through them.

For corrections or information relevant to this story, use Whale Hunting‘s contact page; choose a suitable confidential channel before sending sensitive material.

Update record: First guide prepared 10 November 2026, including the 2025 release in Spain and the 2026 ruling and reported decision not to appeal in Ahn’s case. Substantive future revisions should identify what changed and when. Revised 10 November 2026 to add the visual timeline, embassy security-camera clips, and Brazen’s video and podcast versions of the story.

Browse all Free Joseon coverage or return to Investigations.