The highest-level North Korean diplomat to defect to South Korea will join its main opposition party and run in April parliamentary elections, party officials say.
Create a free account to read this article
or signup to continue reading
Thae Yong-ho, a former official at the North Korean embassy in London, came to South Korea in 2016 with his family.
He since has given media interviews and written articles highly critical of North Korea's authoritarian government led by Kim Jong-un.
The conservative opposition Liberty Korea Party announced on Monday that Thae has decided to join the party and run in a Seoul constituency in the April 15 election.
"His courage and decision will give hope to North Korean refugees and other South and North Korean people who are wishing for genuine unification," Kim Hyong-o, head of a party committee on candidate selections, told reporters.
If Thae is elected, he would become the second North Korean defector to win a seat in South Korea's single-chamber National Assembly.
Former North Korean Cho Myung-chul, who came to South Korea in 1994, served as a proportional representative for a predecessor of the Liberty Korea Party from 2012 to 2016.
Thae, 57, is the most senior North Korean diplomat who has defected to South Korea.
After coming to Seoul, Thae told reporters that he decided to flee because he didn't want his children to live "miserable" lives in North Korea and he was disappointed with Kim Jong-un.
Thae said he initially had some hopes for Kim but eventually fell into "despair" after watching him execute officials and pursue development of nuclear weapons.
North Korea has called Thae "human scum" and accused him of embezzling government money and committing other crimes.
Australian Associated Press
