Those who still managed to flee in recent years often had families already settled in the South, or were relatively well-off and well-connected members of the elite in search of better lives. “It also indicates that North Korea’s regime’s internal solidarity is weakening”.
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(AP Photo). This is an image taken from video taken on April 5, 2004 of Thae Yong Ho, North Korean diplomat speaking during an interview in Pyongyang.
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. But when – or if – it does, its response will likely be ferocious and accusatory.
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.
A ranking North Korean diplomat in London who recently defected to Seoul was at least partly motivated by his son, who went to an ordinary day school in the United Kingdom, the Guardian reported. The ministry said Thae had defected due to his growing disgust of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Many defectors have said they wanted to leave North Korea’s harsh political system and poverty.
The Kim Jong-un regime described the drill, which brought together 300 artillery pieces from 49 battalions, as the largest shelling provocation in history, EFE news quoted a statement as saying.
Thae himself has not yet spoken in public about his motives and details about the context of his defection remain sketchy. “Human scum” is a common epithet, along with “criminals” or “traitors”.
(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”. Veterans of the partisan fight against the Japanese occupation, the Oh family is considered one of the most prestigious in North Korea.
Seoul categorically denies any wrongdoing.
Do sanctions undermine Pyongyang and lead to more defections? Thursday is the 40th anniversary of a 1976 “ax murder incident” in which two US soldiers were hacked to death by North Koreans during a border area clash over USA efforts to trim a tree. Thae is the second-highest official at the embassy.
“This case shows that North Korean elites are feeling there is no hope for their country”, the spokesman said.
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Citing results of interviews with North Korean defectors, Yoon Yeo-sang, director of the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, said “the ratio of North Korean defectors who say they were upper-middle or upper class back home has been increasing since several years ago”.
