[Yonhap News Photo]
South Korea shut its mouth tight over news reports that a diplomat at the North Korean embassy in London has defected and fled abroad with his family.
The diplomat, as Thae Yong Ho, had served as deputy to the ambassador and was responsible for promoting the image of his country to British audiences, BBC News said, adding he had reportedly lived in Britain for 10 years with his wife and family. A Seoul newspaper reported earlier that the diplomat was seeking asylum in a third country.
Thae's main mission had been to spread the message that North Korea and its leadership under Kim Jong-un had been misreported and misunderstood, but it now looks as if his heart may not have been in the task of defending North Korea, BBC said.
"A high-level defection, if confirmed, will be deeply embarrassing for the regime," John Nilsson-Wright, an expert on Asian affairs at the London-based Chatham House think tank, was quoted as saying.
"London has always been an important diplomatic priority for the DPRK given the amount of personnel stationed there and the considerable resources devoted by the regime to maintaining its presence there," he added. "The intelligence benefits to the UK and its allies from such a defection are likely to prove valuable."
Such a high-profile defection in an important diplomatic post is rare. If confirmed, it would seriously hurt the reputation of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un who has struggled under tight international sanctions caused by his nuclear and missile ambitions.
The highest-ranking defector was Hwang Jang-yop, a former North Korean Workers' Party secretary, who has bitterly criticized the totalitarian regime since his defection in 1997.
Hwang tutored North Korea's late leader Kim Jong-il and helped create the ruling philosophy of juche (self-reliance). Pyongyang has called him a traitor and "human scum." Hwang died in 2010 while living at a secret site in South Korea.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.