North Korea’s ambassador to Kuwait defected to the South in a continuous sign of rebellion against Kim Jong Un.
Ryu Hyun Woo actually arrived in South Korea in September 2019, but has just been revealed by Tae Yong Ho, a fellow defector from the Hermit Kingdom who is now a legislator in Seoul.
“I decided to desert because I wanted to offer my son a better future,” said Ryu, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP), citing the Maeil Business newspaper.
Ryu has headed the North Korean embassy in Kuwait since former Ambassador So Chang Sik was expelled after a 2017 UN resolution sought to curtail the country’s diplomatic missions abroad.
It is seen as an important post because Kuwait is an important source of foreign currency for Pyongyang, which has sent thousands of workers there.
Ryu is also the son-in-law of Jon Il Chun, who has oversaw a Workers Party bureau responsible for managing the secret coffers of the ruling Kim family, dubbed Sala 39.
His defection could be a sign that the North Korean elite that sustains Kim’s power base is moving away from him, Tae said.
About 30,000 North Koreans fled repression and poverty under the communist regime and settled in the capitalist south, according to AFP.
In early 2019, North Korea’s ambassador to Italy, Jo Song Gil, disappeared with his wife from the embassy and resurfaced in South Korea.
Tae was also a deserter, fleeing his position as North Korea’s deputy ambassador to Britain before settling in the South in 2016.
Now a Southern politician, he encourages others to follow his path to a new life.
“I want to convey to my colleagues who work around the world and to North Korean elites that there is an alternative to North Korea and that the door is open,” Tae said in an interview at the recent Reuters Next conference.
The National Intelligence Service declined to comment.
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