South Korea's president has appointed a former North Korean diplomat, Tae Yongho, to a vice ministerial position, marking a significant milestone for North Korean defectors in the country. Tae, who defected to South Korea in 2016 while serving as a minister at the North Korean Embassy in London, cited concerns for his children's future and disillusionment with North Korean leadership as reasons for his defection.
Despite facing accusations of embezzlement and other crimes from North Korea, Tae has now been appointed as the secretary general of the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council, a role that involves providing policy advice on Korean unification to the president.
This appointment makes Tae the first North Korean defector to hold a vice-ministerial position in South Korea, where approximately 34,000 North Koreans have resettled. In 2020, Tae was also elected to South Korea's parliament, joining other North Korean defectors who have served as lawmakers.
President Yoon Suk Yeol's office highlighted Tae's unique background and experience, emphasizing his insights from living in North Korea and his work in South Korea's parliament on foreign policy and unification issues.
North Korean defectors who arrive in South Korea receive citizenship, housing, resettlement funds, and other benefits. However, many face challenges adapting to the capitalist and competitive society of South Korea, having come from an authoritarian and impoverished environment.
President Yoon has pledged to enhance government support for North Korean defectors to help improve their quality of life, particularly in light of the difficulties they encounter in their new surroundings. Most defectors are women from North Korea's northern regions, but there has been a recent increase in the number of elite North Koreans seeking refuge in South Korea.
In a separate incident, South Korea's spy agency revealed that Ri Il Kyu, a political counselor at the North Korean Embassy in Cuba, defected to South Korea in November last year.
