ANOTHER ENVOY DEFECTS TO SOUTH KOREA

SEOUL North Korea's acting ambassador to Kuwait has defected to South Korea, the latest in a string of high-profile escapes from the isolated country, a South Korean lawmaker said on Monday.

Ryu Hyun Woo had led North Korea's embassy in Kuwait since former ambassador So Chang Sik was expelled after a 2017 UN resolution sought to scale back the country's overseas diplomatic missions.

Ryu defected to South Korea last September, according to Tae Yong Ho, who was North Korea's deputy ambassador to Britain before settling in the South in 2016.

Tae said Ryu is also the son-in-law of Jon Il Chun, who once oversaw a Worker's Party bureau responsible for managing the ruling Kim family's secret coffers.

The National Intelligence Service declined to comment.

Ryu fled several months after Jo Song Gil, who was North Korea's acting ambassador to Italy, vanished with his wife from the embassy and resurfaced in South Korea.