By Kang Seung-woo
A senior official from North Korea’s spy agency fled to South Korea last year, a source said Wednesday ― a sign suggesting growing discontent with leader Kim Jong-un among the country’s elite.
“An unidentified official from the Ministry of State Security defected to the South,” said a source familiar with North Korean affairs. That ministry is in charge of collecting intelligence and cracking down on the people, he added.
“As far as I know, the official told the relevant South Korean authorities about growing public discontent with the North Korean leader.”
It is rare for a senior official of the powerful Ministry of State Security to escape to South Korea.
The report of this defection follows a recent spate of high-profile North Koreans seeking asylum in the South, including Thae Yong-ho, a former deputy ambassador in London, and a high-ranking embassy official in Beijing. In July, a diplomat at the North Korean embassy in Russia also arrived in South Korea.
In the wake of the mass defections among the privileged, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed his displeasure to a spy agency official, the source said.
According to a media report, the angry North Korean dictator removed Vice Foreign Minister Kung Sok-ung and banished him to a collective farm, holding him responsible for the notable defections.
On Tuesday, state-run broadcaster KBS reported that a group of 10 North Korean workers in Russia sought asylum in South Korea in August, citing an unnamed source.
This is the first time that Pyongyang’s overseas laborers have sought asylum without depending on brokers.
“Ten North Korean laborers working at a construction site contacted the South Korean consulate general in St. Petersburg to express their intention,” it said.
“They decided to defect to South Korea due to poor working conditions and increasing pressure to send their earnings back to the North.”
North Korea has long pressed its workers overseas and diplomats to repatriate hard currency they have earned to the regime, a move aimed at bankrolling the country’s nuclear and missile programs.
The broadcaster added that the North Korean workers are now in a safe area with the help of an international human rights organization that is in discussions with the South Korean government over how to bring them here.
As of the end of August, the number of North Korean defectors here has reached 29,688; with 894 coming to the South in the first eight months of this year, according to data from the unification ministry.
The mass defections are due to the international sanctions on the repressive state and on the North Korean leader’s reign of terror, according to analysts.
In March, the United Nations issued Resolution 2270 that tightened sanctions on Pyongyang, which has prevented the North Korean leader from securing much needed foreign currency.
The lack of funds has weakened the elites’ allegiance to their leader and in response, Kim adopted a reign of terror to tighten his grip on power.
President Park Geun-hye has reiterated her calls for North Koreans to defect to the South, instructing the government to brace for possible mass defections.