South Korean ‘defects to the North’

The son of the highest-profile South Korean to defect to North Korea has arrived in the North to permanently resettle, North Korean state media said.

If confirmed, it would be an unusual case of a South Korean defecting to the impoverished, authoritarian North.

According to state news Choe In-guk, 72, arrived in Pyongyang on Saturday to “dedicate the rest of his life to Korean unification at the guidance of leader Kim Jong Un”. Choe said he decided to live in North Korea for good because it was his parents’ “dying wishes” for him to “follow” North Korea and work for its unification with South Korea.

Choe is the son of former South Korean foreign minister Choe Dok-shin, who defected to North Korea with his wife in 1986, after political disputes with then-south Korean president Park Chung-hee. He died in 1989.

Analysts say North Korea accepted Choe In-guk as a propaganda tool to tell its citizens its system is superior to South Korea’s.