South Korea warned on Sunday of possible North Korean assassinations and kidnappings in revenge for recent high-profile defections to the South. With tensions also high before a large-scale South Korea-US military exercise starting on Monday, the Unification Ministry in Seoul said Pyongyang was bent on provocation.
A ministry official told reporters the defection to Seoul of North Korea’s deputy ambassador to Britain and his family had put the North in “a very difficult situation”. “Considering (North Korean leader) Kim Jong-Un’s character, it is very dangerous,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
“It’s highly likely that North Korea will make various attempts to prevent further defections and unrest among its people.”
The official cited assassination attempts and terror attacks against defectors in the South as well as the abduction of South Koreans abroad as possible provocations. He noted attempts to assassinate Hwang Jang-Yop, the North’s chief ideologue and former tutor to previous leader Kim Jong-Il, who defected to the South in 1997 and died of natural causes in 2010.
The official also said Kim Jong-Un had dispatched squads to the Chinese border “to harm South Koreans” following the defection in April of a group of North Korean overseas restaurant workers.
Deputy ambassador Thae Yong-Ho was believed to have worked at the embassy in london for 10 years before his defection announced last week.