A chain of North Korean defections is anticipated

People Power Party lawmaker Thae Yong-ho alleged that he had met two North Korean Trade Representative staff who defected to South Korea in Seoul sometime between January to May this year. “They were declared missing in action, and now they are living in South Korea under a new name,” Thae said. It was reported that families of a staff of the North Korean Trade Representatives, who were staying in Vladivostok, Russia, have been lately missing. Thae’s allegation indicates that there are more cases involving North Koreans working abroad having recently defected to South Korea that the regime has not reported.

In a telephone interview with The Dong-A Ilbo on Thursday, Thae said he has recently met two North Korean defectors, who were well-off in North Korea, working abroad at North Korean embassies in a trade-related sector. While the North Korean authority only revealed two cases of defections of North Korean diplomats, including former North Korean Acting Ambassador to Italy Cho Sung-gil in 2017 and former North Korean Acting Ambassador to Kuwait Ryu Hyun-woo in 2019, Thae explained that more than two people working at North Korean embassies abroad have recently defected to South Korea. “They are not career diplomats. They used to be the staffs of the overseas branch of the Office of Trade Representative,” Thae explained.

A chain of defections by North Korean laborers working abroad, who have been unable to return to North Korea because of the COVID-19 pandemic, is likely to continue. “Workers and diplomats who have been living abroad for an extended period are the first to be returned to North Korea when the borders reopen,” one official of the regime reportedly has said. “Many of them are reluctant to return for various reasons, such as their children's education or fear of punishment.” On top of it, the country's grain belt is expected to yield only two-thirds of the harvest of the year before, which will exacerbate food shortages, and this would drive up defections of North Koreans working abroad.


9dragon@donga.com · yea@donga.com