Defection of NK diplomat challenges Trump-Kim summit

Seen above is an online letter from Thae Yong-ho, former North Korean deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom, Saturday. Thae wrote the message to Jo Song-gil, North Korea's acting ambassador to Italy who went missing in November. / Screen capture from Thae's online blog

US, Italy have yet to confirm Jo Song-gil's whereabout

By Lee Min-hyung

Jo Song-gil, former North Korean acting ambassador to Italy

The disappearance and alleged request for asylum by former North Korean defector Jo Song-gil are posing a challenge for North Korea and the United States as they prepare to meet, as the former acting ambassador to Italy is reportedly seeking asylum in the United States.

Washington remains mum over these reports from the Italian media, apparently wary of the fallout from the issue ahead of their possible second summit set to take place in the near future.

The U.S. Department of State declined to confirm anything on the reports on Friday that Jo, who has reportedly been in hiding for weeks, has expressed hopes to settle in the U.S.

The 44-year-old North Korean diplomat has been missing with his family since early November without prior notice. Jo's specific whereabouts remain unknown.

The report came at a critical juncture when U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed their willingness to hold their second summit shortly to break the ongoing deadlock in negotiations for the North's denuclearization.

Washington wants to maintain its relationship with the North to extend the dialogue momentum. For this reason, expectations are that the former will continue declining to comment on details of the issue, as it may negatively affect Kim's determination to hold dialogues with the U.S. on peace and denuclearization.

North Korea reacts sensitively to any defections of its top officials amid concerns that they may leak secret information of the regime's leadership. On top of that, continuous reports on North Korean defectors aggravate the image of the North at a time when the international society intensifies pressure on the regime for its human rights abuses.

The reported defection of the North Korean elite, for this reason, is expected to deal a blow to Kim, as he is doing the utmost to normalize the regime's tainted image by offering rare gestures for peace to South Korea and the U.S.

Thae Yong-ho

Against this backdrop, another North Korean diplomat-turned-defector has urged his colleague to come to Seoul, calling it an “obligation, not a choice,”

In an open letter posted to his blog, Saturday, Thae Yong-ho, former North Korean deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom, said Jo and other North Korean diplomats should defect to South Korea for the unification of the two Koreas. Thae defected to Seoul in 2016.

The response came a day after Italy's local media reported that Jo seeks asylum in the U.S. and is under the protection of Italian intelligence services.

“The (South Korean) government will guarantee thorough security if you come to the South,” Thae said Saturday in an online post titled “a letter to Jo.” Both former North Korean diplomats also studied at the Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies.

“I wish the report on your plan to seek asylum in the U.S. were not true,” the former North Korean diplomat said.

Thae also underlined the need for Jo to join hands with tens of thousands of North Korean defectors in the South and seek ways for unification with them.

“Seoul is the outpost of the unification of the Korean Peninsula,” Thae said. “As former North Korean diplomats, our mission is to unify the two Koreas and hand down the unified peninsula to our children. We should break the North's hierarchy and unify the peninsula.”

Thae also said Jo should make his way to Seoul for more North Koreans to follow in their footsteps.

“There are around 30,000 North Korean defectors in South Korea,” Thae said. If Jo defects to the South, more of their colleagues and North Korean people will make the same decision, allowing them to be free from their shackles under the North's leadership, according to Thae.

“Unification will then take place on its own,” he said.