High-profile defections are suddenly back in vogue, with the North Korean deputy ambassador to Britain, Thae Yong-Ho, handing Seoul a propaganda coup this week by defecting to South Korea with his family.
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Thae Yong-ho, a top North Korean envy who acted as propagandist and advocate for Pyongyang in London mission, has been confirmed to have safely arrived in South Korea with his family.
Thae, known as the No. 2 man at the North’s embassy, has become one of the highest-level North Korean diplomats to desert the repressive regime, according to the Seoul government.
Many of roughly 27,000 North Koreans who have fled the impoverished, repressive North for the wealthy and democratic South struggle to assimilate and are economically marginalized, but well-connected defectors like Thae are treated as a valuable resource who can shed light on a secretive neighbour.
Thae, 55, is a veteran diplomat who is experienced in dealing with countries in Western Europe.
“If the people in this country, or in America, knew that there is a country in the world where there is a free education, free housing, free medical care, then they’d have second thoughts”, he had said in one speech.
South Korea’s army says it has conducted its largest-ever artillery drills near the tense border with North Korea.
The unusually large size of the South Korean artillery drill and the lack of a North Korean response are striking; live-fire drills are a regular occurrence in South Korea and invite swift reactions from North Korea.
Thae’s duties while in London included keeping track of North Korean defectors and rebutting criticism of the country’s human rights record. Seoul said North Korea fired first, but Pyongyang denied firing.
Thae’s defection will likely enrage North Korea, which often accuses South Korea of kidnapping or enticing its citizens to defect. This has recently come under increasing scrutiny from the worldwide community as they say the money generated by these workers ultimately ends up funding the North’s missile and nuclear programmes.
According to South Korean media reports, both Thae and his wife were of blue-blooded North Korean revolutionary stock.
However, with this year’s war games being the largest ever, and with a United States decision to deploy a B-1 bomber plane in the Pacific for the first time in a decade, North Korea is claiming that the US’s intentions are far from promoting regional stability.
The Unification Ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about North Korea’s claims on Saturday.
But Thae also displayed the particular brand of public devotion to his government shown by North Korean diplomats.
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Thae is understood to have abandoned his post earlier this month.
