Ryu Hyun Woo had led North Korea’s embassy in Kuwait since former Ambassador So Chang Sik was expelled after a 2017 UN decision sought to cut back the nation’s abroad diplomatic missions.
Ryu defected to South Korea final September, in line with Tae Yong Ho, who was North Korea’s deputy ambassador to Britain earlier than settling within the South in 2016 and being elected as a lawmaker final yr.
Kuwait had been a key supply of overseas forex for Pyongyang, which despatched hundreds of labourers there, largely for building tasks.
Tae mentioned Ryu can also be the son-in-law of Jon Il Chun, who as soon as oversaw a Employee’s Social gathering bureau liable for managing the ruling Kim household’s secret coffers, dubbed Room 39.
The Nationwide Intelligence Service declined to remark.
Ryu’s defection could possibly be an indication that the North Korean elite who shore up chief Kim Jong Un’s energy base has been drifting away from him slowly however continually, Tae mentioned.
Ryu fled a number of months after Jo Tune Gil, who was North Korea’s appearing ambassador to Italy, vanished together with his spouse from the embassy and resurfaced in South Korea.
Tae instructed Reuters that the data and experiences of the surface world gained as a diplomat had fostered disillusionment amongst his household, and he determined to flee to “give freedom” to his kids, calling for different officers to observe swimsuit.
“I need to ship to my colleagues working around the globe and North Korean elites that there’s an alternative choice to North Korea, and the door is open,” Tae mentioned in an interview on the current Reuters Subsequent convention.