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For elite North Korean defector, a job and bodyguards await in South

Thae Yong Ho, minister at the North Korean Embassy in London, has arrived in South Korea with his family and is under the protection of the South Korean government, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said on Wednesday. It said that North Korea had informed the British government of the accusations against Thae and asked that he be handed over to North Korean officials, but that London had instead created an “indelible stain” in relations between the countries by letting him go to South Korea, to be used in a “smear campaign” against the North.

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(Korean: 1752) “There is a high possibility that North Korea could engage in ideological censorship among the second and third generations of revolutionary leaders and the upper class, as well as check on loyalty towards Kim Jong-un among diplomats and officials working overseas”. “I was given the opportunity to work at INSS”, said Kim, who defected with his family in 2003 while working in Singapore for a North Korean insurance firm that became notorious for involvement in scams.

The JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, which had broken the original story of Thae’s defection, published a grainy black-and-white photo Thursday, purportedly showing Oh Baek Ryong standing next to Kim Il-Sung in 1947 and holding Kim’s son and eventual successor, Kim Jong-Il, in his arms. The spokesman said Thae made a decision to defect out of “disillusion” of the Kim regime and for the sake of the future of his children. “Thae’s defection is probably an independent event”, he said.

A privileged background and powerful connections with the ruling elite back in Pyongyang appear to have provided the springboard for Thae’s successful defection to South Korea, analysts said Thursday. There will inevitably be concern for the safety of Mr Thae as North Korea is known to have agents in the South and there have been attempts to assassinate high-profile defectors and dissidents in the past.

Defections by North Koreans are commonplace.

Thae’s defection will likely enrage North Korea, which often accuses South Korea of kidnapping or enticing its citizens to defect. “North Korean embassies generally keep a lot of cash on hand since they can’t use bank accounts, which frequently leads to such incidents”, the source said.

Thae’s oldest son, who is reportedly 26 years old, has a bachelor’s degree in public health economics and his dissertation was on the need for Pyongyang to have more disabled parking spaces for it to become a global city. The South Korean government particularly emphasized that Thae was a “high-ranking diplomat” and that he was “sick and exhausted of the Pyongyang regime”.

Among the highest-level defections to date were a former DPRK ambassador to Egypt who defected to the United States in 1997.

Thae’s defection comes after the defection of twelve waitresses at a North Korean restaurant in China that took place early this year. Overseas study is allowed to only a select group in the country of those who are very close to the leadership through their family backgrounds.

Thae was the second-highest official in North Korea’s embassy, and is the most senior North Korean diplomat to defect to South Korea. “Thae’s sons had spent about 10 years overseas, and it might have been hard for them to go back to Pyongyang”, one expert on defector issues said.

“I don’t think it will prompt a chain reaction of North Korean elites defecting, it’s premature to predict such phenomenon”.

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Last year, as The Diplomat reported, the two Koreas exchanged artillery fire, with no reported casualties on either side.

North Korea calls diplomat defector 'human scum'