A high level defection from one of North Korea's most important embassies is believed to have taken place late in 2018 when Jo Song-gil, the envoy to Rome fled his post.
North Korea's embassy not only represents the country in Italy but also at the Vatican and the World Food Organisation, an important partner for a fragile state that frequently fights famine conditions. It is also believed that Pyongyang and Holy See are in advanced talks about a papal visit by Pope Francis to the Communist-run country.
Defectors opposed to the regime of Kim Jong-un pointed to the significance of Mr Jo's defection along with his wife in a midnight flit from the mission. Only the most trusted of North Korean diplomats are permitted to travel abroad with their families. Mr Jo was a product of the North Korean elite and both his father and father-in-law served as ambassadors as well.
A South Korean MP, Kim Min-ki revealed the news on Thursday, citing a briefing by Seoul's National Intelligence Service to parliamentarians. La Repubblica, the Italian newspaper, said that Mr Jo could still be in Italy under the protection of the country's intelligence services but that his most likely end destination would be the US.
An official with the Italian Foreign Ministry said Thursday that Mr Jo hadn't formally requested asylum from Italy. The official also confirmed that Mr Jo was no longer serving as a diplomat in Italy.
If confirmed it will be the highest level defection from the Kim regime since Thae Yong Ho, a former minister at the North Korean Embassy in London, fled to South Korea in 2016.
Speaking on South Korean television after the latest development, Mr Thae said he worked with Jo for more than a decade in the North Korean Foreign Ministry's Europe bureau. He added that Mr Jo not comes from a family of diplomats but also has a son.
Mr Jo took up the acting envoy post in October 2017 after Italy expelled then-ambassador Mun Jong-nam in protest over North Korea's nuclear and long-range missile tests in defiance of UN Security Council sanctions.
Mr Jo's posting began in May 2015 and was due at the end of November, Mr Thae said Mr Jo was replaced by a new ambassador, Kim Chon.
North Korea's state media previously derided Mr Thae as "human scum" and any move by the US to offer Mr Jo asylum would complicate the talks between Washington and Pyongyang to normalise relations.
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Read more:
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North Korea warns on US sanctions
Trump says next meeting with North Korea's Kim likely in early 2019
US abruptly postpones top-level North Korea talks
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While North Korean regime maintains it is committed to negotiating with the United States and the international community over its nuclear programme, there has not been much progress so far.
After Mr Kim and President Donald Trump launched the negotiations at a summit in Singapore in June, the prospect of a second meeting has receded. Mr Trump at one point predicted the meeting would take place early this year.
Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, made four trips to Pyongyang in 2018 but abruptly postponed talks with Kim Yong Chol — one of the North Korean leader's right-hand men — in New York in November that was set-up to discuss progress towards a denuclearisation pact.
Mr Kim used his New Year address to declare his willingness to meet Mr Trump again at any time but added a warning that Pyongyang would seek a "new way" if Washington tried to force a one-sided agreement on it.
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Key recommendations
- Fewer criminals put behind bars and more to serve sentences in the community, with short sentences scrapped and many inmates released earlier.
- Greater use of curfews and exclusion zones to deliver tougher supervision than ever on criminals.
- Explore wider powers for judges to punish offenders by blocking them from attending football matches, banning them from driving or travelling abroad through an expansion of ‘ancillary orders’.
- More Intensive Supervision Courts to tackle the root causes of crime such as alcohol and drug abuse – forcing repeat offenders to take part in tough treatment programmes or face prison.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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2018 World Cup qualifying: Asia fourth round play-off first leg
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