Increasingly isolated internationally because of its nuclear weapons programme, North Korea maintains relatively few overseas embassies, and defections by diplomats of Thae’s stature are extremely rare.
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A North Korean diplomat stationed in the British capital has defected to South Korea with his family, South Korean authorities said Wednesday. The letters read “He was the No. 2 man at the embassy”.
Thae’s son, Thae Kum Hyok, who was known as “Kum Thae”, was a pupil at Acton High School, a short walk from the embassy.
She is believed to be a close relative of O Kum-chol, vice chief of the KPA General Staff, who is the son of O Peak-ryong, it added.
Mr Jeong declined to reveal Mr Thae’s defection route, citing the diplomatic sensitivities involved for the concerned countries.
Thae’s escape could help Seoul “learn more about the level of support that Kim Jong Un enjoys” and “recent developments in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs”, said Ramon Pacheco Pardo, senior lecturer in global relations at King’s College London. The diplomat also said that he yearned for the South’s freedom and democracy, and that he wanted to give his children a better future, Jeong told reporters.
Thae would not be the first North Korean to have defected this year.
Foreign media reports said that he was scheduled to return to North Korea this summer after a 10-year-stay in London.
“I understand that Thae Yong-ho was born to Thae Byong-ryol, who engaged in anti-Japan guerilla attacks in Manchuria with Kim Il Sung”, said the source, who asked not to be named.
But Thae also displayed the particular brand of public devotion to his government shown by North Korean diplomats.
A spokesman for the ministry further said that the defection is a sign of weakening unity within the North’s ruling class.
There has been no official response from North Korea, and it’s not clear how Kim Jong-un may react to this latest propaganda disaster.
Thae was the second-highest official in North Korea’s embassy, and is the most senior North Korean diplomat to defect to South Korea.
“It would be a premature assumption to think the Kim Jong-un regime will be shaken by defections by some elite North Koreans”.
A high-profile North Korean diplomat in the United Kingdom has defected and fled overseas.
A source affiliated with North Korean Refugees Solidarity group headquartered in England says Tae was a leading figure in filing written reports back to North Korea on the movements and activities of defectors. He died in 2010.
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After several days of rumours, South Korea’s unification ministry confirmed on Wednesday that Thae, who is thought to be in his late 50s, was now in Seoul with his family.
