The statement by the state-run Korean Central News Agency was North Korea’s first reaction to the defection of Thae Yong-Ho – the number two at the North’s mission in London.
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On Friday, media reported that another North Korean diplomat, third secretary of the North Korean Embassy in Russia Kim Chor Sen, who had been considered missing in Moscow since last month, defected to South Korea.
On Thursday, an army official of South Korea said that there’s a total of 300 artillery systems placed by the military units along the border as the army starts firing shells in different directions.
North Korea accused its neighbour of aggravating the situation on the Korean peninsula and leading it into its worst phase in history, ahead of Seoul and Washington’s joint Ulchi Freedom Guardian military drill.
Sokeel Park, director of research at Liberty in North Korea, a California-based group that helps North Korean refugees, told CNN that the diplomat’s family members who remain in North Korea could face punishment.
He is the highest-level diplomat to defect from Kim Jong-Un’s regime, according to its neighbour.
Seoul announced on Wednesday that Mr Thae had arrived there but refused to give further details about the defection.
Jeong also declined to confirm local media reports indicating there are at least four more cases of defection by North Korean diplomats to South Korea this year: one from Bulgaria, another from Russian Federation and two from Southeast Asian nations.
“Steve Evans, a South Korean correspondent for BBC, wrote in an article published Tuesday that he has pleasant memories” with Thae and that “the signs were there” that the diplomat thought about defecting to South Korea.
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Yonhap said he had initially sought asylum in the United States, but was turned down, while the Dong-A Ilbo said his disappearance had triggered an extensive manhunt by North Korean agents. Later in April, South Korea also revealed that a colonel in North Korea’s military spy agency had defected to the South past year.
