By Jun Ji-hye
A group of 13 North Koreans who defected en masse to South Korea last week are the children of ranking officials in the ruling Workers’ Party and other administrative agencies, according to reports, Tuesday.
The Daily NK, a website dedicated to North Korea issues, reported that the defectors are the children of senior members of the party and administrative agencies, citing an unnamed source.
The defectors worked in foreign countries for years to raise money for the party as well as for the construction of the Ryugyong Hotel, according to the report.
The pyramid-shaped 105-story hotel stands in Pyongyang, but has remained unfinished since the late 1980s due to financing problems.
Thirteen North Koreans ― one male manager and 12 female waitresses ― arrived in South Korea, Friday, after fleeing a restaurant operated by North Korea in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province in northeast China.
The source said that residents in the North know that news about the group defection is circulating, along with rumors that a number of high-ranking officials of the Kim Jong-un regime will be in danger after the 13 fled to the South.
The source added that the North’s State Security Department in charge of monitoring North Korean employees in foreign countries also fell into a state of despair after news of the defections broke.
“The business (of restaurants in foreign countries) was prosperous for a while, but underwent a crisis after the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) slapped on new sanctions,” the source said. “The security department dispatched dozens of groups of its officials to China to strengthen surveillance and is also working to replace the existing staff.”
The isolated state has operated some 130 restaurants in 12 countries as a means to earn hard currency that is suspected of being used to help bankroll Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.
Following stronger sanctions imposed by the UNSC as well as major nations, such restaurants face business hardships with some shutting down, according to sources.
Other sources told reporters that the 13 North Koreans could have succeeded in defecting while a security department official responsible for monitoring them left on a business trip to Beijing.
Sources added that the male manager in his 30s, who played a leading role in the group defection, is regarded as part of the elite class because he studied in China and Russia for years.
Some reports said that colleagues of the 13 defectors are believed to be hiding out in China under South Korean government protection and are waiting to reach Seoul, dismissing earlier reports that the remainder are hiding in an unidentified Southeast Asian country.
A Chinese employee who worked at the restaurant earlier told reporters that a total of 18 North Koreans ― three male managers and 15 female waitresses ― worked there.
If the remaining North Koreans are under Seoul’s protection, they will likely avoid being forced back to their country.
On Monday, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang confirmed the defection of 13 North Korean employees, saying, “We received a report of missing North Koreans residing in China and then confirmed 13 North Koreans who had valid North Korean passports left the country at dawn on April 6.”
The spokesman stressed that they held valid identification and did not cross the border illegally, apparently wary of complaints from the North that China condoned their defection.
China’s confirmation about North Koreans’ defection is rare as the country has so far been reluctant to disclose details on the issue, apparently bearing its relations with Pyongyang in mind.
Meanwhile, a colonel in the North Korean army who was in charge of gathering intelligence on the South defected to Seoul last year with his daughter, reports said.
The officer, whose identity was withheld, worked at the North’s Reconnaissance General Bureau and was dispatched to China. At the time, his daughter was also studying in China, so he fled to the South with her, reports said.
The bureau deals with intelligence gathering and espionage operations in foreign countries, and is also responsible for cyber warfare.
The bureau is known to be behind Pyongyang’s deadly torpedo attack on the South Korean naval frigate Cheonan in 2010 that killed 46 sailors, as well as an alleged cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2014.
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