Kim Jong-un Fears Elite 'Defection Domino'... Internal Crackdown Expected to Intensify

North Korea Reacts Strongly Whenever High-Ranking Officials Defect
Labels Them as Sex Offenders, Embezzlers, and Traitors
Economic Burden Also Mounts on Privileged Class Due to Sanctions

North Korea held a Workers' Party Political Bureau meeting chaired by Chairman Kim Jong Un on the 5th and decided to carry out the "80-day Battle" until the end of the year, according to the Korean Central News Agency on the 6th.

It has been revealed belatedly that Jo Seong-gil, the former North Korean charg? d'affaires to Italy who suddenly disappeared in Rome two years ago, has defected to South Korea, drawing attention to the potential impact on the North Korean regime and its response. With the defection of a high-ranking official at the ambassadorial level, North Korea is expected to strengthen control over its overseas missions and implement thorough internal inspections.

Jo, who disappeared in November 2018 and was believed to have defected to the West, secretly chose to go to South Korea and has been confirmed to have stayed in the country for over a year. Jo’s defection to South Korea is notable as it marks the first time in over 20 years since Hwang Jang-yop, former International Secretary of the Workers' Party, defected in 1997 that a top North Korean official has sought refuge in South Korea.

Since Kim Jong-un assumed power in 2011, Jo is reportedly the first North Korean ambassador-level diplomat to defect. The fact that a high-ranking North Korean diplomat chose to defect to South Korea suggests significant unrest within the North Korean regime.

North Korea has historically shown intense reactions whenever key figures defect. When Thae Yong-ho, then the deputy ambassador at the UK embassy, defected to South Korea in 2016, North Korea conducted inspections of its overseas missions and further tightened controls over trade workers stationed in border areas such as China, restricting them from leaving their assigned regions arbitrarily.

At that time, North Korea issued an official response three days after confirming Thae’s defection, on August 20, unleashing harsh criticism. The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) referred to Thae as a "defector" without naming him directly, accusing him of embezzling state funds, selling state secrets, and even committing crimes of statutory rape. The agency also condemned South Korean authorities for harboring the "criminal" and using him for "anti-Republic propaganda and confrontation with compatriots."

Cho Song-gil (center), the North Korean charg? d'affaires to Italy, who is known to have disappeared after leaving the embassy with his wife in November 2018 ahead of the end of his term, attending a cultural event held in Veneto, Italy, earlier that March. The exact reason for Cho's disappearance has not been disclosed, but it is widely believed that he is seeking asylum in a third country under the protection of foreign governments such as Italy.

When Hwang Jang-yop (who passed away in 2010), the foremost theorist of Juche ideology and former Workers' Party secretary, defected to South Korea in February 1997, North Korea reacted similarly. Initially, North Korea claimed Hwang had been kidnapped, but five days after his defection became known, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated in an interview with KCNA, "If Hwang Jang-yop sought defection, it means betrayal, and our position is that traitors can leave if they want." Thirteen years later, in 2010, North Korea attempted to assassinate him by sending a South Korean spy, but the attempt failed.

In 1997, there were also defections of Jang Seung-gil, ambassador to Egypt, and his brother Jang Seung-ho, economic counselor at the French mission, to the United States. A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson claimed in an interview with KCNA one day after the U.S. State Department officially announced their defection, "Former ambassador to Egypt Jang Seung-gil and his brother, former trade counselor at the French mission Jang Seung-ho, were dismissed from their posts at the end of July on charges of embezzling large sums of state funds, corruption, and leaking major state secrets, and while under summons for investigation by legal authorities, they fled."

The continued defections of high-ranking North Korean officials are seen as evidence of instability within the regime. This is interpreted as a result of accumulating and intensifying sanctions against North Korea, which have increased economic burdens even on the privileged class, spreading skepticism about the regime. There is also considerable fear of frequent purges and "rule by terror." Former Foreign Minister Yoon Byung-se commented, "Even those who could live relatively comfortably under the North Korean regime now judge that there is no hope in continuing to live in North Korea."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.