The unusually large size of the South Korean artillery drill and the lack of a North Korean response are striking; live-fire drills are a regular occurrence in South Korea and invite swift reactions from North Korea.
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Thae, the number two at the North Korean embassy in Britain, is one of the highest ranking diplomats ever to defect to the South, gifting Seoul a major propaganda coup at a time of rising tension on the divided Korean peninsula.
In an admission that 55-year-old Mr Thae and his family may have fled of their own free will, however, Mr Kim said they would regret their actions “when North Korea takes over the South, within five years at the most”.
“This case shows that North Korean elites are feeling there is no hope for their country”, the spokesman said. The spokesperson also indicated that the incident was proof that the Kim establishment is dwindling, and at a “breaking point”.
North Korea allows only citizens deemed most loyal to travel overseas, and Thae’s fleeing marks the latest in several defections.
“(The impact) is mostly psychological. After earning a bachelor’s degree in Pyongyang, he also went to Denmark to continue studying, according to former North Korean diplomats now in South Korea.
“Thae is believed to have expressed his intent to defect to South Korea”, the source said. “But it wouldn’t be hard for embassies to increase the numbers by speeding up the procedure”, said a source at one defector organization. What’s harder to answer is why the USA hasn’t sanctioned a single Chinese entity involved in the various weapons, goods and money-laundering rackets that sustain the Kim regime.
Though the South Korean government appeared very excited about Thae’s defection, experts caution that such defections don’t necessarily deliver a critical blow to the North Korean government.
Defections by North Koreans are commonplace.
The North Korean diplomat, responsible for public relations at the London embassy, may have been concerned for his children’s future. He was reported to have worked in the same European country for the past 20 years. A source also says he was probably responsible for work related to the Kim family’s secret funds. Nor did he explain the route taken by Mr Thae, second in rank to ambassador Hyon Hak Bong in London. “Thae was the second-ranking diplomat at the North Korean Embassy to the United Kingdom after Ambassador Hyun Hak-bong”. According to Yonhap News Agency, his late father is said to have been a four-star general of the Korean People’s Army (KPA), as well as a core member of the ruling party of the communist state.
In May, the Pyongyang regime publicly executed six officials in charge of supervising North Koreans working overseas after the defection of 13 workers at a restaurant in China.
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The announcement is expected to infuriate North Korea, which typically calls high-profile defectors traitors and accuses South Korea of abducting or luring its citizens to defect.
