Prominent defectors urge South Korea, Italy to protect missing Italy envoy

A group of prominent North Korean defectors called on the Italian and South Korean governments to provide protection for Pyongyang's former envoy to Italy Wednesday, as his whereabouts remain unknown.

Thae Yong-ho, who defected to the South in 2016 while serving as deputy ambassador at the North's embassy in London, made the appeal during a press conference to launch a group calling for the missing North Korean diplomat, Jo Song-Gil, to come to Seoul.

Jo, the charge d'affaires of the North's Embassy in Rome, has been unaccounted for since early November ahead of the planned end of his assignment in Italy later that month. He is widely believed to be hiding in Italy to seek asylum in a third country.

"We demand that the South Korean government ask the Italian counterpart to guarantee the security of Jo and his family, and check whether they are willing to come to South Korea under a condition where free decision-making is assured," he said.

He said the Italian government should make sure that Jo and his family can go to any country they want.

In an open letter to his former colleague, Thae has also urged Jo to come to South Korea, saying that it is an "obligation, not a choice," for North Korean diplomats like him and Jo to come to South Korea.

Italy has been without a North Korean ambassador since Pyongyang's former envoy was expelled in 2017, following the country's sixth nuclear test. Jo joined the embassy in May 2015 as the third secretary, according to South Korean lawmakers.

Thae was joined by several prominent former politicians and critics of North Korea, including Park Kwan-Yong, a former speaker of the South Korean National Assembly under the conservative, anti-Pyongyang administration of President Park Geun-Hye.