Unlike many other places in the world a popular uprising in North Korea I don’t think will do much. This is because the Kim regime will just kill the people and then pretend it didn’t happen just like what their primary sponsors in Beijing did at Tiananmen Square back in 1989. What I do see the outside information flowing in doing is discrediting the regime with the North Korean public. This would make it easier for someone in the military down the road perhaps to launch a coup with little public resistance:
Thae Yong-ho
North Korea’s former deputy ambassador to Britain has told a group of reporters that a “popular uprising” against North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un is imminent. Thae Yong Ho, who defected to South Korea in August of 2016, said that sanctions against the regime and its inability to control the flow of information about the outside world were weakening its grip on authority.
Thae’s comments came during a press conference in Seoul, the first time he has spoken to international media since his defection.
During the press conference, Thae, who speaks fluent English, declared that “Kim Jong-Un’s days are numbered,” as information about the outside world becomes more accessible. “Low-level dissent or criticism of the regime, until recently unthinkable, is becoming more frequent,” he added. [Yahoo News]
The ROK must have gotten all the intelligence they could out of this guy before leaking to the media that he has defected:
A high-level North Korean official in charge of state surveillance defected to the South in 2015, a government source said.
The South Korean source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the official was a director-level member of Pyongyang’s state security department, Yonhap reported on Wednesday, local time.
The high-ranking defector was in charge of identifying trends in public sentiment among the residents of Pyongyang, the capital where the country’s elite reside.
“It is believed in interviews with [South Korean] authorities the official said public sentiment [about the North Korean leadership] in Pyongyang is ‘heated,'” the source stated.
The term “heated” is used to convey negativity about the Kim Jong Un regime, the source explained.
It is highly unusual for North Korean state security department personnel to flee the country, and the defector, identified as “A” in the Yonhap report, is believed to have left with confidential information on the Kim regime, and the leadership’s surveillance methods critical to maintaining control of the population.
The defector reportedly told South Korean government interviewers members of his bureau were uncomfortable with Kim’s rule, and after watching “others bounce,” state agents are “bouncing,” or exiting the regime. [UPI]
President Park has double down on her policy of encouraging the mass defections of North Korean refugees which the Kim regime has responded to by calling her a “impudent bitch”:
South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Tuesday told her government to prepare for large-scale defections from North Korea, just days after direct appealing to its citizens to flee their country.
A recent spate of high-profile North Korean defections have provided a propaganda windfall for Seoul, which has spun them into a narrative of a Pyongyang leadership in crisis and riven with descent.
Notable defections have included the North’s deputy ambassador to Britain and a rare, group escape by a dozen waitresses from a North Korean-run restaurant in China.
In an address to mark Armed Forced Day earlier this month, Park had vowed to “keep the road open” for future escapees and urged North Koreans to “come to the bosom of freedom in the South.”
Pyongyang’s response was to call Park a “bare-faced and impudent bitch” in a commentary carried by the ruling party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Park reiterated her defection appeal, and stressed the importance of preparing the ground for any new arrivals.
“Defectors are like unification that has arrived early, and a test bed for unification,” Park said.
“I hope we can swiftly secure sufficient system and capacity to accommodate North Korean citizens who come seeking freedom,” she added. [AFP]
It looks like the Obama administration is about to make a bigger issue of North Korea’s human rights record:
United States Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power (C) at the truce village of Panmunjom on Oct. 9, 2016. (Yonhap)
The United States ambassador to the United Nations visited a settlement support center for North Korean defectors on Sunday, official sources said.
Samantha Power, who arrived in Seoul the day before, toured the Hanawon center in Anseong some 77 kilometers south of the South Korean capital and held talks with North Koreans who fled the reclusive country.
Authorities said she took part in a prayer session with some of the defectors who are receiving training so they can assimilate into their new lives in the South.
Government insiders said the trip reflects Washington’s drive to make an issue of the North’s deplorable human rights abuses that could lead to the matter being linked to additional sanctions down the road. Currently talks are underway at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to penalize the North following its fifth nuclear test on Sept. 9. [Yonhap]
Two high-ranking officials from the North Korean embassy in Beijing – including a man who had overseen leader Kim Jong-un’s health care – defected with their families last month, a source well-informed on North Korea revealed.
“On Sept. 28, a heavyweight representative in North Korea’s mission in Beijing – who came from the Health Ministry – escaped with his wife and daughter,” the source exclusively told the JoongAng Ilbo on Tuesday. “This family made contact with the Japanese Embassy in China to begin the procedure to head to Japan.”
The official has relatives in Japan, which was why he chose to defect to Tokyo rather than Seoul.
As a high-ranking Health Ministry official, he would have overseen the Bonghwa Medical Center, which treats North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his family, as well as the Namsan Hospital and the Red Cross Hospital. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but I wonder if the health official is fleeing because he is getting blamed for the poor health of Kim Jong-un? It must be a stressful job trying to keep that guy healthy.
It is great to finally see a South Korean leader openly advocate for North Korean citizens to stand up to the Kim Jong-un regime by voting with their feet:
President Park Geun-hye issued a blunt message to urge North Korean soldiers and citizens to defect to the South, inviting criticisms from liberal politicians over her provocativeness while fueling speculations about conditions in the reclusive communist regime.
Park made the comment in a speech at a ceremony to mark Armed Forces Day on Saturday. In the speech, she addressed the latest security crisis caused by the Kim Jong-un regime’s nuclear and missile development and the South’s determination to counter it.
Park made perhaps the most provocative proposal by far to North Koreans. “Today, I want to clearly tell the reality that the North Korean regime is facing to the North Korean authorities, military and people,” she said, stressing that it is a misunderstanding and miscalculation of the young North Korean ruler to expect to achieve security and internal unity by demonstrating its nuclear and missile capabilities and escalating military tensions.
She noted that the international community is reacting differently from the past to the North’s provocations and the North is facing strengthened pressures and sanctions, while the negotiation stage has ended.
She, then, directly addressed the North Korean people. “We know the brutal reality that you are facing now. The international community is also seriously concerned about the North Korean regime’s human rights abuses.”
Promising that the South will do its best to end the North’s provocations and inhumane rule, Park said, “We will leave the path open for the North Korean people to find hope and life. Come to the free land of the Republic of Korea at any time.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
This defection is actually pretty unusual since it is only the third defection of a North Korean soldiers in the past four years:
A North Korean soldier defected Thursday across the Demilitarized Zone dividing the peninsula, the South Korean military said.
The soldier crossed the military demarcation line at about 10 a.m. inside the 2.5-mile-wide DMZ, a military official confirmed, speaking on condition of anonymity according to department policy.
The military is investigating how and why the soldier defected, the official said, adding he could not provide more details.
South Korea has reported an increasing number of defectors from the North this year as the isolated country’s ruler Kim Jong Un seeks to tighten his grip on power. [Stars & Stripes]
