Jo, a senior North Korea diplomat who vanished in Italy in late 2018, lives in South Korea under government protection, lawmakers said Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020.
(Parish of Farra di Soligo via AP, File)SEOUL – A senior North Korea diplomat who vanished in Italy in late 2018 lives in South Korea under government protection, lawmakers said Wednesday.
Ha said he was confirming Jo’s arrival on behalf of the committee to prevent a media frenzy, after a South Korean TV station reported about his defection on Tuesday evening.
Before Jo, Thae Yong Ho, a former minister at the North Korean Embassy in London, was the most senior North Korean diplomat to defect to South Korea.
About 33,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea since the late 1990s to avoid political suppression and poverty in the North.