'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.