North Korean military colonel flees to South in rare senior-level defection

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A colonel from North Korea's military spy agency fled to South Korea last year in a rare senior-level defection, Seoul officials said . The letters read: ‘True, A colonel from North Korean military’s General Reconnaissance Bureau Asylum’. Photo: AP

Published: 2:30pm, 11 Apr 2016Updated: 12:15pm, 12 Apr 2016

A colonel from North Korea’s military spy agency fled to South Korea last year in a rare senior-level defection, Seoul officials said on Monday.

The announcement came three days after Seoul revealed 13 North Koreans working at the same restaurant in a foreign country had defected to the South. It was the largest group defection since North Korea’s young leader Kim Jong-un took power in late 2011. South Korean media reported the restaurant is located in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo.

The colonel worked for the North Korean military’s General Reconnaissance Bureau before defecting to South Korea, according to Seoul’s Defence Ministry and Unification Ministry. Both ministries refused to provide further details including a motive for the defection.

North Korea's highest-ranking defector Hwang Jang-yop, was responsible for writing North Korea's official state ideology before defecting in 1997. Photo: AFP

The reconnaissance agency was believed to be behind two deadly attacks blamed on Pyongyang that killed 50 South Koreans in 2010.

There have been occasional reports of lower-level North Korean soldiers defecting but it is unusual for a colonel to flee to the South.