Two senior North Korean officials, including an army colonel specialising in espionage against the South, defected to South Korea last year, the Seoul government said on Monday.
News of the defections followed a South Korean announcement on Friday that 13 workers at a restaurant run by the North in an unidentified country had defected, a case it described as unprecedented.
South Korea did not say where the 13 had worked. China said on Monday that 13 North Koreans had been there and had left lawfully. It did not say if they were the same group.
The South’s Unification and Defence Ministries said on Monday a North Korean army colonel defected last year and had been granted political asylum. He had worked in the secretive General Reconnaissance Bureau, which is focused on espionage activities against the South.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles North Korea issues, also said that a senior diplomat who was posted in an African country had defected to the South last year with his family.
The defection of a high-ranking officer in the General Reconnaissance Bureau is a coup for Seoul.
Further, the South Korean government’s public acknowledgement of defections is unusual. — Reuters
