Foreign media reports said that he was scheduled to return to North Korea this summer after a 10-year-stay in London.
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The unification ministry said Thae defected because of his disillusionment with North Korea under leader Kim Jong-un and aspiration for freedom and democracy. The newspaper also said Thae may have felt anxious about his son’s academic future due to the possibility of his being recalled by North Korean authorities at any time. “This may be one of the things that starts cracks forming in the Kim Jong-un’s regime worldwide solidarity”.
The North Korean career diplomat is one of highest-ranking foreign service officers who have sought asylum in South Korea.
Former North Korean People’s Revolution Army commander Oh Paek-ryong (circled) is holding Kim Jong-il, just behind North Korean founding leader Kim Il-sung during a visit to Mangyongdae forest in Pyongyang with partisan fighters, June 21, 1947.
Thae’s defection is loaded with signs of growing agitation and discontent among North Korea’s ruling class, given that he was among the privileged few in the impoverished communist country, experts familiar with internal North Korean affairs said.
The 55-year-old 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, South Korea’s unification ministry said Wednesday.
About 50,000 North Koreans, including some minors, are estimated to be stationed in various countries to earn money for Pyongyang.
His stay in London spanned almost 10 years, during which he has been actively engaged in a campaign to promote North Korea’s national image against the backdrop of growing worldwide pressure in the wake of North Korea’s relentless nuclear program.
Massive drills, which so far have produced no immediate reaction from the northern neighbor, took place as tensions on the peninsula run at all-time high, with the North continuing to violate United Nations sanctions and pursuing nuclear research and the development of ballistic rockets. Individual sanctions have been adopted by countries like South Korea, the US and the European Union that are further hurting the country. Institute for National Security Strategy senior fellow Hyon Song-il arrived in South Korea in 1996 after working as a secretary at the North Korean embassy in Zambia. Many defectors have said they wanted to leave North Korea’s harsh political system and poverty.
With recent desertion cases involving well-to-do citizens, the ratio has risen even more lately, Yoon said, without disclosing exact data. The move appears to be aimed at using them as hostages to curb further defections, it said.
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“Thae is believed to have expressed his intent to defect to South Korea”, the source said. It was the largest group defection since Kim took power in late 2011.
