Defectors are a source of shame for Pyongyang. It often brands them ‘human scum’ and accuses South Korean spies of kidnapping them
North Korea’s top diplomat to Italy, who South Korea’s spy agency says has gone into hiding along with his wife, appears to be the latest member of the North’s elite to abandon the secretive totalitarian state.
Many of them have expressed frustration over what they described as an oppressive police state in Pyongyang or desires for their families to have new lives in South Korea or the West.
The North, which touts itself as a socialist paradise, is extremely sensitive about defections, especially among its elite, and has previously insisted that they are South Korean or US plots to undermine its government. South Korea has accused the North of killing or attempting to assassinate past defectors.
Here we take a look at some of the high-profile defections from North Korea:
The late Hwang Jang Yop remains as the highest-ranking North Korean official to defect from the North and seek asylum in South Korea.
Hwang, a former senior member of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, was the chief architect of the North’s governing “juche” ideology of self-reliance and had tutored former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, the late father of current ruler Kim Jong-un.
