{"id":27917,"date":"2016-08-21T00:28:37","date_gmt":"2016-08-21T00:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/north-korea-calls-diplomat-who-defected-a\/"},"modified":"2016-08-21T00:28:32","modified_gmt":"2016-08-21T00:28:32","slug":"north-korea-calls-diplomat-who-defected-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/north-korea-calls-diplomat-who-defected-a\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea calls diplomat who defected a ‘criminal’"},"content":{"rendered":"

{Pyongyang says Thae Yong-ho embezzled state funds, raped a minor and spied for South Korea in exchange for money.}<\/p>\n

North Korea has accused one of its most senior diplomats, who defected to South Korea, of being a “criminal” involved in “embezzlement” and other serious offences, in an effort to discredit him. <\/p>\n

Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that Thae Yong-ho, who they described as “human scum”, had embezzled state funds, raped a minor and spied for South Korea in exchange for money.<\/p>\n

The report did not name the “diplomat who fled his mission in London” but it was apparently referring to Thae, who defected while in Britain.<\/p>\n

Thae is one of the highest ranking North Korean diplomats ever to defect to the South, gifting Seoul a major propaganda coup at a time of rising tension on the divided Korean peninsula.<\/p>\n

Any defection by a ranking member of an overseas North Korean mission would make waves, but London is considered a particularly prestigious posting that puts Thae’s flight on a whole different level.<\/p>\n

KCNA also criticised Britain for handing over Thae and his family to South Korea, saying that Pyongyang had previously told London of his crimes and requested his extradition.<\/p>\n

{{‘Fugitive’}}<\/p>\n

The news agency’s comments mark Pyongyang’s first public response to the high-level defection, which is a rare and damaging loss of diplomatic face for the North.<\/p>\n

Seoul said earlier this week that Thae’s defection reflected a loss of faith among North Korea’s elite in Kim Jong-Un’s leadership.<\/p>\n

Thae had become disillusioned with the Pyongyang regime, admired South Korea’s free and democratic system, and was concerned about his family’s future, the South’s Unification Ministry said after the defection.<\/p>\n

KCNA said Thae had fled “for fear of legal punishment for his crimes”, adding that the South had brought the “fugitive” to Seoul to use him in its anti-Pyongyang smear campaign.<\/p>\n

“He deserved a legal punishment for his crimes, but he took to flight, betraying his country and parents and other kith and kin,” KCNA said.<\/p>\n

The defection is likely to strain already-fraught relations between South and North Korea. The two sides are officially still at war since the Korean War in the 1950s ended in a truce rather than a peace deal.<\/p>\n

Many North Koreans flee the country each year because of famine and repression. Most cross the border into China or travel via other countries to South Korea.<\/p>\n

In April, a group of 13 North Koreans who worked in the same restaurant in an unspecified country defected to South Korea.<\/p>\n

\"Thae<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{Pyongyang says Thae Yong-ho embezzled state funds, raped a minor and spied for South Korea in exchange for money.} North Korea has accused one of its most senior diplomats, who defected to South Korea, of being a “criminal” involved in “embezzlement” and other serious offences, in an effort to discredit him. Pyongyang’s Korean Central News […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[101],"byline":[2474],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-27917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-internationl","byline-al-jazeera"],"bylines":[{"id":2474,"name":"AL JAZEERA","slug":"al-jazeera","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2474,"name":"AL JAZEERA","slug":"al-jazeera","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27917\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27917"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=27917"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=27917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}