'Real James Bond stuff' as captors flee, leaving envoy and wife behind after
A North Korean diplomat who went missing with his wife and son amid accusations of embezzlement was last night back in Bangkok after escaping from a botched kidnap attempt by Pyongyang's security services.
Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said Hong Sun-gyong had been given political asylum and was unlikely to be deported.
An embassy van carrying seven North Koreans ran off the road and overturned in Nakorn Ratchasima province, about 480km north of Bangkok on Tuesday. Five of the seven, who had North Korean diplomatic passports, left the scene, saying they would return to Bangkok.
Police who brought Mr Hong, 61, and his wife back from the northeast by helicopter described him as cut and bruised. 'There must have been a desperate punch-up or something. It looks like real James Bond stuff,' one senior Thai official said.
The vehicle had been speeding to Laos, where the former science and technology counsellor and his wife would presumably have been spirited back to North Korea.
Mr Hong disappeared last month after allegations that he had stolen money intended to buy rice for starving North Korea. Officials said Pyongyang still owed US$83 million (HK$642 million) after buying thousands of tonnes of rice from Thailand in recent years.
Last night telephone numbers at North Korea's Bangkok Embassy were 'temporarily out of order' - as are likely to be diplomatic relations with Thailand.
The Thai Deputy Foreign Minister, Sukhumband Paribatra, last week warned his North Korean counterpart, Park Dong-chun, that Thai law should be respected and that Mr Hong should be treated in a humanitarian way.
The North Koreans were also asked to notify the Thai authorities as soon as they had news of Mr Hong.
But a well-connected member of Bangkok's Korean community said that 'secret service people from Pyongyang had poured into Thailand' since Mr Hong disappeared on February 19.
There has been no official statement about the whereabouts of Mr Hong's son, Hong Won-myong, 20, but police lieutenant-colonel Samart Chainarong said: 'The son appeared to have been in a Mercedes car, ahead of the van, which left the scene.' A Seoul diplomat, Chul Jun-yu, said the son had already been captured and removed from the country. He asked the Thais to treat the Hong case 'with sympathy'.
Thailand has no extradition treaty with North Korea.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said a third country - presumably South Korea - could be asked to take Mr Hong and his wife.
The Thai Foreign Ministry had earlier revoked Mr Hong's diplomatic status at the request of North Korea.
Mr Surin said: 'Thailand will deal with him under Thai law and he is now subject to the legal process.'
