The latest high-level defection:
A senior North Korean diplomat and member of one of the country’s most powerful families has defected to South Korea in the latest sign of discontent among the ruling elite.
Ryu Hyun-woo was the acting ambassador to Kuwait when he travelled with his family to South Korea in September 2019, the Maeil Business Newspaper reported. The South Korean spy agency has declined to comment but, according to the newspaper, Mr Ryu was motivated by the needs of his family. “I decided to defect because I wanted to offer my children a better future,” it quoted him as saying.
He is the latest in a trickle of senior officials to flee North Korea, although there are no obvious signs that the defections are undermining the authority of the supreme leader, Kim Jong-un.
Mr Ryu joined the foreign ministry after studying Arabic at Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies and served in Syria.
His wife, who attended the highly regarded Kim Il-sung University, is the daughter of Chon Il-chun, a schoolmate of the late Kim Jong-il, father and predecessor of Kim Jong-un. Mr Ryu is a former head of “Bureau 39”, a shadowy government department accused by the US government of raising funds for the regime through illegal activities such as manufacturing counterfeit currency and drugs.
Mr Ryu became the acting ambassador to Kuwait when the ambassador was expelled after sanctions were imposed on North Korea in 2017. His presence in Seoul has been kept a secret, partly to escape the attention of North Korean assassination squads. But South Korea also hides elite refugees to prevent embarrassing Mr Kim, with whom it is trying to re-establish diplomatic talks.
Trying to re-establish diplomatic talks – with absolutely no progress nor hint of progress on that particular delusionary path. And imagine the dismal state of South Korean politics, where "to prevent embarrassing Mr Kim" is actually a matter of concern.
Some high-level defectors, like Thae Yong-ho, the North Korean deputy ambassador to the UK who defected in 2016, have made clear their ideological motives for defecting. Thae has become a dedicated campaigner against the evils of the North Korean regime, giving numerous talks on the subject and writing regular columns for the Daily NK.
Ryu's reasons for defection may not be quite so high-minded, according to South Korea's Chosun Ilbo:
Ryu reportedly decided to defect because he was worried about repercussions after embassy staff lost portraits of regime founder Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il while cleaning the embassy. "Ryu contemplated suicide but instead drove his car to the South Korean Embassy for the sake of his daughter who was in middle school," a diplomatic source said.
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