For almost two years, his whereabouts have been unknown – but this week, South Korean lawmaker Ha Ta-keng confirmed reports that Joe had headed to South Korea in 2019.
Hai wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday, “There have been several requests for information, so here it is. It has been confirmed that former ambassador Joe Song Gill entered South Korea in July last year and is under government protection.”
Delay in declaring bias
A spokesman for South Korean MLA Kim Min-ki told CNN last year that if he disappeared in November, 2018, before his term as North Korea’s top diplomat in Italy was about to end.
Italy has been without a North Korean ambassador since the country’s former nuclear envoy was expelled in 2017 following the country’s sixth nuclear test. According to South Korean lawmakers, Jo joined the embassy in 2015 as the third secretary.
In a statement after the diplomat fled, the Italian Foreign Ministry said it had received a notice from the North Korean embassy that Jo and his wife had left the embassy on November 10, 2018. Four days later, Johnny returned to North Korea with his daughter, the Italian Foreign Ministry said, after a female employee of the North Korean embassy requested to be reunited with her grandparents.
A spokesman for South Korea’s National Assembly Intelligence Committee chairman Jeon He-cheol told CNN that the South Korean government had not disclosed Joanna’s partisanship for more than a year out of concern for her family’s safety. The spokesman said Joe had voluntarily expressed a desire to come to South Korea.
Thane, a former UK-based diplomat, criticized the press for publishing news about Jo without his consent.
“For families living with family members in North Korea, it is a sensitive matter to disclose their news,” he said in a statement. “That’s why other former North Korean diplomats live in South Korea without revealing their identities, and neither does the South Korean government.”
Thae, who is now a South Korean legislator, urged the country’s journalists not to “focus too much on (if) considering his daughter in the North.”
Life for Defectors
Defectors say North Korea regularly punishes entire families for a person’s crimes, especially those found guilty of anti-government activity. North Korean exiles say their relatives are often sent to prison camps or used as propaganda tools by the regime.
Thane was disgusted with his wife and two sons, who were in London with him. However, he said most Korean diplomats posted abroad do not travel with their families.
Although there are no official figures showing how many North Koreans have fled their country, South Korea says it has welcomed more than 32,000 defaulters since 1998. North Korea is home to about 250 million people.
Defectors often face a difficult life even after entering South Korea. Even though they are given welfare assistance, many struggle to find employment.
Joshua Burlinger and James Griffiths of CNN contributed to this report.
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