North Korea’s former deputy ambassador to the UK, who defected to South Korea in 2016, tells CNN he was like «a modern slave.»
That was only heightened in recent years, under the leadership of Kim Jong Un.
«He faced some challenges inside the leadership of North Korea,» Thae explained. «That’s why Kim Jong Un decided to show he is a man with mercilessness — so that everyone should be frightened about him.»
Thae said his sons had «a long dream of freedom,» and wanted to continue their lives outside the yoke of Pyongyang. But «as sons,» he said, they were unable to raise the idea of defecting with their father.
«When they heard my decision then they were very happy, and they really appreciated that I decided to let them free.»
As a diplomat in London, Thae said, he tried to convey truths to Pyongyang — to a point.
«I always report[ed] what was going on in UK and America and around the world,» he told Amanpour. «But whenever I report[ed] those things, I always tried to keep a kind of line of loyalty to the system, and regime.»
Family politics
CNN spoke to Thae’s family in North Korea earlier this year, as part of a government-organized interview.
His sister, Tae Ok Ran, told CNN’s Will Ripley that she wanted to «warn him» that «the whole family won’t forgive him.
