SEOUL – Two years ago, Thae Yong Ho, then North Korea’s deputy ambassador in London, received an unexpected phone call from the ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee in Pyongyang telling him to get ready to receive a very important e-mail.
“Please go to the Albert Hall and buy four tickets,” said the cryptic message from a disposable e-mail address designed to throw off Western intelligence agencies.
The message wasn’t code — Thae found out later he was being asked to take leader Kim Jong Un’s brother to an Eric Clapton concert.
After receiving the e-mail, Thae searched online for upcoming gigs at London’s Royal Albert Hall. One caught his eye: “Eric Clapton’s 70th Birthday Celebration Tour.”
“I realized, ‘Ah! It must be Kim Jong Chol! In North Korea, who else would be interested but Kim Jong Chol?’ “
Not much is known about Jong Chol, the elder brother of the North Korean leader, except his love for the music of British guitarist Clapton.
Thae, who defected to the South last year, said he was charged with escorting Kim around London when he arrived for the concert.
