-
South Korea has appointed a former North Korean diplomat to a top government position.
-
Tae Yongho is the first North Korean defector to hold a vice ministerial position in South Korea.
-
Experts told BI that Tae’s appointment could increase tensions with North Korea.
South Korea has a former North Korean diplomat and defector as a high government official.
President Yoon Suk Yeol appointed Tae Yongho as secretary-general of the Consultative Council for Peaceful Unification, which develops and implements proposals for the unification of the two Koreas.
Tae defected en masse to South Korea in 2016 and was previously ambassador to the North Korean embassy in London.
The appointment makes him the first North Korean defector gets vice ministerial position in South Korea, according to AP.
Ramon Pacheco Pardo, KF-VUB Korea Chair at the Brussels School of Governance, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, told Business Insider that the appointment itself is significant.
“But this is even more important given Tae’s background as a high-ranking defector who served in the National Assembly until the recent elections,” he said.
Tae has “a very public profile that should increase the visibility of the Council,” he added.
In 2017, Tae told CNN that he fled with his wife and sons for the future and freedom of his family.
After his defection, North Korean authorities Tae called “human scum” and accused him of crimes.
Sarah A. Son, a senior lecturer in Korean studies at the University of Sheffield, told BI the appointment would likely continue to discredit the North Korean government of Kim Jong Un Tae.
“He is absolutely seen as a traitor to the current North Korean regime and I think they will portray him that way,” she said.
In 2020, Tae was elected to South Korea’s National Assembly, joining a handful of other defectors who have become lawmakers there.
In his new role, Tae will work to build peaceful relations between North and South Korea, with the ultimate goal of reunification.
But “North Korea does not view the Council as particularly relevant,” Pardo, the chairman of KF-VUB Korea, told BI.
Hazel Smith, a professor of Korean studies at SOAS University of London, has known Tae for years. He believes North Korea will find his appointment “very upsetting.”
“It is a continuation of a trajectory in which he was politically active and held a political position in South Korea,” she said.
Smith told BI that she suspects Tae will fill the role extremely well.
“It is certainly not a nominal position given to him by the South Korean government,” she said.
Smith added: “He has been and continues to be actively involved in campaigns that expose the North Korean government and the problems of the North Korean people.”
Read the original article at Business insider
