Former high-ranking North Korean diplomat Thae Yong Ho, who defected to South Korea in 2016 and became a lawmaker in 2020, has blazed another trail.
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol appointed Thae, 62, as secretary general of the country’s Peaceful Unification Advisory Council on July 18, making him the first defector to hold a vice-ministerial position in the South Korean government.
Thae was born in Pyongyang in 1962, graduated from Pyongyang Foreign Language Institute and Pyongyang University of International Relations, and was a professional diplomat who worked at the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs. While working as an attaché at the North Korean Embassy in the UK in 2016, he defected to South Korea with his family.
Four years later, Thae won a seat in the National Assembly, representing Seoul’s wealthy Gangnam district. He became the first North Korean escapee who had previously served in the North Korean government to join the legislative body.
“North Korean residents are also proud citizens of the Republic of Korea,” he said on social media, using the official name of South Korea. “North Korean escapees can hold any position for the country and people without any discrimination or prejudice.”
He said the appointment was meaningful in that it shows the North Korean people that those who have escaped can achieve success in the South.
Since the division of the two Koreas more than 34,000 people have fled the North to resettle in the South, according to statistics from the South Korean Ministry of Unification.
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The news of Thae’s appointment was inspiring to Kim Sukyong, who himself escaped North Korea in 1998 and settled in the United States.
“When I heard this, it was clear that South Korea is a democratic country where if you have the desire and ability, you can become anything,” said Kim, who serves as vice chairman of the Unification Education Division of the Washington Chapter of the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council.
She said that North Koreans who learn of Thae’s success will expect more freedom in their own lives.
“People who were begging on the streets in North Korea can come to South Korea and get famous,” she said. “Those who arrive (in South Korea) by boat can study hard there and succeed. It shows that … South Korea offers more opportunities and freedom than North Korea. People in North Korea will come to realize this.”
A number of North Korean escapees have entered high-ranking public positions in South Korea in recent years.
In May, Ko Yonghwan, a former first secretary at the North Korean embassy in Congo and the first North Korean defector to become a South Korean diplomat, was appointed as the president of the National Institute for Unification Education (NIU) under the Ministry of Unification.
Ko, who defected from North Korea in 1991, was appointed as a special aide to the Unification Minister in September last year.
Kim Dong Su, who defected in the late 1990s and formerly served as the third secretary at North Korea's mission to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), was appointed as a director of the Korea Hana Foundation under the Ministry of Unification in 2022. In 2023, he was further appointed as a central committee member of the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council.
In addition to the appointed high-ranking officials, North Korean escapee Park Choong-kwon is currently elected member of the South Korean National Assembly, following in the footsteps of Thae, Ji Seong-ho, who also won a seat in 2020, and Cho Myung-chul, who won a seat in the 2012 legislative election.
After his election in April, Park Choong-kwon told RFA that if North Koreans were to learn about the young North Korean elite who became a South Korean National Assembly member after defecting, it would likely be a significant shock to them.
Translated by Leejin J. Chung. Edited by Eugene Whong.