A North Korean two-star general has become the highest-ranking military officer to defect to South Korea, according to Seoul officials. The general, who handled spy operations targeting the South at the North's General Bureau of Reconnaissance, arrived in Seoul last year.
South Korea's Unification and Defence Ministry spokesmen confirmed the report but declined to provide further details, including the official's name. A government official quoted by Yonhap news agency stated, 'He is the highest-level military official to have ever defected to the South.'
The defection comes amid heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula, following North Korea's condemnation of UN sanctions over its nuclear and missile programmes and annual military drills by South Korea and the United States. Earlier this month, 13 North Koreans working in a restaurant in China defected to the South in a rare mass defection.
Nearly 30,000 North Koreans have fled poverty and repression to settle in the South, but the number of defectors has halved since Kim Jong-Un took power in 2011. Experts note that recent defectors often have family in the South or are well-connected elites seeking better lives.
