During a rare appearance before Congress Wednesday, a high-ranking North Korean defector told lawmakers that the U. S. should focus on shaping the flow of information into North Korea and urging China not to repatriate defectors. The testimony by Thae Yong-ho, a former diplomat working in the U…
During a rare appearance before Congress Wednesday, a high-ranking North Korean defector told lawmakers that the U. S. should focus on shaping the flow of information into North Korea and urging China not to repatriate defectors.
The testimony by Thae Yong-ho, a former diplomat working in the the U. K. who defected to South Korea in 2016, comes as President Donald Trump readies to visit Asia for 12 days. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jon-un have exchanged heated words in recent months, as Pyongyang has stepped up its missile tests. Trump has dubbed Kim “Little Rocket Man” and during a speech at the United Nations threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea if the U. S. is forced to defend itself or its allies.
Thae, whom North Korea has described as “human scum,” told House lawmakers he grew up more privileged than other North Koreans—he received an elite education in China and was later allowed to live and work abroad. But he still felt like he was living a life of a “modern day slave,” and didn’t want his sons to grow up the same.
“I feared that someday my sons would have cursed me for forcing them back to North Korea,” he said.
Thae noted that North Korea’s “free markets are flourishing” and that citizens have found ways to access information from the outside, such as South Korean films and television. He predicted a citizen uprising fueled by dissatisfaction and knowledge of the outside world if the regime does not change—something he said the U.
