According to the BBC, Thae was tasked with spreading “positive perceptions of the North Korean leadership”, and had said publicly that the British were brainwashed into believing “shocking, terrifying” lies about North Korea and its leader.
Advertisement
Thae’s arrival in the south was announced by South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which said he had fled there out of disgust with the Kim government.
A minister at the North Korean Embassy in London, Tae Yong Ho became one of the highest-ranking government officials ever to defect from the country when he and his family landed in South Korea. The sign reads ” Unification Ministry”.
Jeong emphasized that Thae is one of the senior-most North Korean diplomats to have defected.
An official at the North Korean embassy in London would not confirm the defection on Tuesday, describing reports of the event as “quite sudden”.
According to reports, Thae was “sick and exhausted of the Kim Jong-un regime” and anxious about his children’s future.
Mr Jeong declined to reveal Mr Thae’s defection route, citing the diplomatic sensitivities involved for the concerned countries. A spokeswoman for the British Foreign Office said, “It’s not a story we’re commenting on”. Hwang died in 2010.
Recommended: Kim 101: How well do you know North Korea’s leaders? .
It also comes at a tense time in relations between North Korea and South Korea and its allies.
But some are undeterred, and pundits say this points to growing disaffection among the elite as leader Kim Jong-un seeks to assert control over the various entitled factions.
Defectors who held senior political or military positions within North Korea are extensively debriefed by the South Korean intelligence agency, and then offered to United States military intelligence. He was now seeking asylum in a third country, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper said.
“Most North Korean defectors have limited access to the inner workings of the North Korean regime”, he said.
O Hye-son, Thae’s wife, is also known as a descendant of O Peak-ryong who also joined the anti-Japanese guerrilla activities with the communist country’s founder, according to another source.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported yesterday that North Korea’s Atomic Energy Institute, which has jurisdiction over its main Yongbyon nuclear facilities, had been producing highly enriched uranium necessary for nuclear arms and power “as scheduled”.
Thae had worked at the North Korean Embassy in London for about 10 years, Yonhap said.
The South Korean government, which has been taking a suddenly tough approach to North Korea since its nuclear test in January, used Thae’s escape to take another swipe at the regime in Pyongyang.
Advertisement
Wednesday’s announcement came as North Korea is responding angrily to a US plan to place an advanced missile defense system in South Korea. The North has warned of unspecified retaliation and fired several missiles into the sea earlier this month.
