Two North Koreans defect in latest upset for Pyongyang ahead of summit with US
TWO North Koreans, including a military officer, defected to the South early yesterday morning in the latest upset for Pyongyang after a fractious week in which Kim Jong-un threatened to pull out of June talks with Donald Trump, the US president.
The officer and a civilian defected by boat and were picked up by the South Korean military in the Yellow Sea, near the inter-Korean sea border, after expressing willingness to defect, reported the South’s newswire, Yonhap.
The defection, the first of a North Korean military officer since 2008, is awkward timing for Seoul, which has a long-standing policy of accepting
North Korean defectors.
Moon Jae-in, South Korea’s president, has been at pains to keep this year’s diplomatic détente between North and South on track, particularly in the runup to the June 12 summit, which aims to make progress on denuclearisation and peace on the peninsula.
Meanwhile, North Korea was accused of trying to fool the world with the closure of its nuclear test site this week.
A Chinese nuclear scientist who worked on Beijing’s nuclear weapons programme told The Sunday Telegraph that the planned public dismantling is a “ploy” by the regime to buy time.
A group of journalists will witness a series of explosions at the Punggye-ri nuclear facility, which Pyongyang claims will seal the site and underscore its commitment to denuclearisation.
The event was described as a transparent dismantling “ceremony” by North Korean official media, but experts have raised questions about Kim’s real intentions.
Additional reporting by Christine Wei