Female employees are on standby in front of the door of a North Korean restaurant at a Koreatown in the northeastern Chinese border city of Shenyang on Aug. 19, 2016. Asked on whether they know of the latest defection of Thae Young-ho, a minister at the North Korean Embassy in London, to South Korea, they repeatedly answered in unison that they were unaware of it. (image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 26 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea on Friday said defections by North Korean officials indicate that internal insecurity has increased in the communist country as the reclusive country’s leader Kim Jong-un is strengthening his iron-fisted rule.
Seoul’s unification ministry said that a series of defections by North Koreans are taking place at a time when Kim is beefing up his reign of terror and tightening crackdowns on people.
“The government thinks that the stream of defections by North Koreans is the result of Kim moving to consolidate his power and growing internal insecurity,” Jeong Joon-hee, a ministry spokesman, told a regular press briefing. “We’re concerned that North Korea could make more provocative acts as it takes steps to prevent further defections.”
Thae Yong-ho, a minister at the North Korean Embassy in London, recently defected to South Korea, making him one of the highest North Korean officials to flee to the South.
A North Korean diplomat at Pyongyang’s trade representative in Vladivostok, Russia, defected with his family last month to an unidentified country, according to local reports.
Jeong said that he has no information to confirm such reports.
(Yonhap)
