North Korean defector Thae Yong-ho to join South’s opposition party, run in election
- Thae fled to South Korea in 2016 with his family and will now represent the conservative Liberty Korea Party in April 15 election
- If elected, he would become second North Korean defector to win a seat in National Assembly after Cho Myung-chul in 2012
The conservative opposition Liberty Korea Party announced on Monday that Thae has decided to join the party and run in a Seoul constituency in the April 15 election.
“His courage and decision will give hope to North Korean refugees and other South and North Korean people who are wishing for genuine unification,” Kim Hyong-o, head of a party committee on candidate selections, told reporters, according to his party.
An organisation that represents Thae did not immediately respond to an emailed request to confirm the party’s announcement.
If Thae is elected, he would become the second North Korean defector to win a seat in South Korea’s single-chamber National Assembly. Former North Korean Cho Myung-chul, who came to South Korea in 1994, served as a proportional representative for a predecessor of the Liberty Korea Party from 2012-16.
It is rare for senior North Korean officials to defect to South Korea. About 33,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea in the past two decades, but most are women from rural towns near the border with China who fled to avoid poverty.