Former N. korean diplomat may put off planned trip to Washington

By Park Sae-jin Posted : February 21, 2017, 10:35 Updated : February 21, 2017, 10:35

[Yonhap Photo]



An outspoken former North Korean diplomat may put off his planned US trip due to security concerns caused by the killing of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's brother in Malaysia.

Thae Yong-ho, an ex-minister at the North Korean embassy in London, was put under government protection after he defected to South Korea with his family in August last year.

Thae, 55, has been involved in active public activities to deliver testimony on the North Korean regime since he came out in December. He said in early January that he wants to meet with members of the Trump administration to provide information on North Korea.

South Korean intelligence authorities said the defector suspended his public activities following the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of North Kora's late leader Kim Jong-il, in an attack blamed on North Korean agents.

The death prompted Seoul to step up security for Thae and other high-ranking defectors who could be the target of possible attacks by North Korean agents. Pyongyang's propaganda outlet Uriminzokkiri described him as a "special class criminal".

In 1997, Yi Han-yong, a nephew of Kim Jong-nam's mother Sung Hye-rim, was fatally shot outside his home in southern Seoul. Two assailants were never caught. He had been living in South Korea since his 1982 defection.

Hwang Jang-yop, a former North Korean ruling party secretary who defected to Seoul in 1997, has been the permanent target of assassination by North Korea until he died of heart failure in 2010. Hwang, known as the main architect of North Korea's governing "Juche (self-reliance)" ideology, was the highest-ranking official from Pyongyang.

Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
 
기사 이미지 확대 보기
닫기