North Korean top diplomat in Italy ‘goes into hiding’

South Korea's spy agency has told officials that North Korea's ambassador to Italy has gone into hiding with his wife.

A senior North Korea diplomat who reportedly sought asylum in an "unidentified Western country" has now gone into hiding.

Jo Song-Gil the acting North Korean ambassador to Italy, had apparently applied for asylum with his family, in what is being treated as a significant defection.

The 48-year-old has been the acting ambassador since 2017 and had asked Italian authorities for protection last month, according to South Korean daily newspaper Joongang Ilbo.

Along with his wife and two children, Jo is believed to currently be at a safe house while his asylum application is assessed.

Jo is "known to be a son or son-in-law of one of the highest-level officials in the North’s regime", the Joongang said, citing an unnamed North Korea expert as saying.

Usually, North Korean diplomats who are sent abroad are required to leave behind several family members in Pyongyang to prevent their defection.

Jo, however, moved to Rome in 2015 with his wife and children, suggesting that he is from a privileged family.

If confirmed it would be the first defection by a North Korean diplomat since 2016, when Thae Yong-ho, the deputy ambassador to London, fled to South Korea with his family.

Thae said he had switched sides partly to give his three children a better future after he had been ordered to return to Pyongyang.

A high-profile defection by one of North Korea's elite would be a huge embarrassment for leader Kim Jong Un as he pursues diplomacy with Seoul and Washington and seeks to portray himself as a player in international geopolitics.

South Korean lawmaker Kim Min-ki said an official from Seoul's National Intelligence Service (NIS) shared the information during a closed-door briefing.

The NIS earlier said it couldn't confirm a South Korean media report that Jo was under the protection of the Italian government as he seeks asylum in a Western nation.