Senior N. Korean defector says his sons were reason he fled
SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — The highest-level North Korean diplomat to defect to South Korea said Wednesday he decided to flee last year because he didn’t want his children to live “miserable” lives in the North.
Thae Yong Ho, a former minister at the North Korean Embassy in London, told reporters that he was lucky to have been able to bring both of his sons to London, unlike other North Korean diplomats who are forced to leave some of their children at home as “hostages.”
After his sons, now 20 and 27, learned about life in Britain, they began asking him questions such as why North Korea barred use of the internet and executed people without proper legal procedures, he said.
Their British friends at school made fun of them over the nature of their homeland, he said. For instance, when they grew long hair, their friends laughed and asked whether they could be arrested in North Korea because they had heard all young men were required to have short haircuts.