SEOUL — North Korea’s acting ambassador to Kuwait has actually defected to South Korea, the most recent in a current string of prominent leaves from the separated nation, a South Korean legislator stated on Monday.
Ryu Hyun Woo had actually led North Korea’s embassy in Kuwait considering that previous Ambassador So Chang Sik was expelled after a 2017 U.N. resolution looked for to downsize the nation’s abroad diplomatic objectives.
Ryu defected to South Korea last September, according to Tae Yong Ho, who was North Korea’s deputy ambassador to Britain prior to settling in the South in 2016 and being chosen as a legislator in 2015.
Kuwait had actually been a crucial source of foreign currency for Pyongyang, which sent out countless workers there, primarily for building jobs.
Tae stated Ryu is likewise the son-in-law of Jon Il Chun, who when supervised a Worker’s Party bureau accountable for handling the judgment Kim household’s secret coffers, called Room 39.
The National Intelligence Service decreased to comment.
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Ryu’s defection might be an indication that the North Korean elite who support leader Kim Jong Un’s power base has actually been wandering away from him gradually however continuously, Tae stated.
Ryu left a number of months after Jo Song Gil, who was North Korea’s acting ambassador to Italy, disappeared with his other half from the embassy and resurfaced in South Korea.
Tae informed Reuters that the understanding and experiences of the outdoors world got as a diplomat had actually promoted disillusionment amongst his household, and he chose to leave to “give freedom” to his kids, requiring other authorities to do the same.
“I want to deliver to my colleagues working around the world and North Korean elites that there is an alternative to North Korea, and the door is open,” Tae stated in an interview at the current Reuters Next conference.
