A diplomat at the North Korean embassy in London has defected to another country, BBC News understands. The diplomat left the embassy, based in Ealing, west London, earlier this month for a “third country”, reports in the South Korean media say. The diplomat reportedly lived in the UK for 10 years with his wife and family, the BBC’s diplomatic correspondent James Robbins said. Neither the Foreign Office nor the embassy has commented. Calls about the issue have not been answered at the Embassy of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), which is the North Korean embassy’s official title. “A DPRK diplomat in London is going through procedures to seek asylum in a third country,” a report in the South Korean daily newspaper JoongAng Ilbo said. “The DPRK Embassy made belated attempts to figure out the diplomat’s whereabouts, but has failed,” the paper’s report added, citing an anonymous source. The paper said that in this context “a third country” means one which is not either North or South Korea.
