High-level defection: why N. Korean diplomatic family chose freedom

Yahoo – AFP, Kim Il-sung, March 1, 2023 

Born into an elite North Korean family with ties to the ruling dynasty, Oh Hye Son grew up believing she was "special" -- but then she tasted freedom overseas and decided to defect. 

Most of the tens of thousands of North Koreans who have escaped repression and poverty at home make an arduous, high-risk journey across the country's land border with China, where they face arrest and possible deportation. 

Oh's family's defection was less dangerous but equally as wrenching: she convinced her husband Thae Yong Ho, then deputy ambassador at North Korea's London embassy, to give up their privileged place in the Pyongyang regime for the sake of their children. 

"I wanted to never return to North Korea and questioned why North Koreans had to live such a hard life," she told AFP in an interview in Seoul, where she now lives. 

Years of postings across Europe -- in Denmark, Sweden, and Britain -- exposed the family to a different life, she said, adding that when she first arrived in London she thought: "If there is paradise, this must be it". 

Oh, who recently published a Korean-language memoir, was once part of Pyongyang aristocracy -- a descendent of a famed North Korean general who fought alongside leader Kim Il Sung against the Japanese in the 1930s. 

But despite this impeccable pedigree, she still "lived in fear of power", she said. 

"No one except the Kim family had privileges, and as my children learned about freedom and democracy when they lived abroad, I realised there was no future for them in North Korea," she added. 

NHS love 

Oh's eldest son Thae Juhyok had chronic health problems including nephrotic syndrome, a condition which can cause life-threatening kidney problems if not treated. 

Getting that treatment was near impossible in Pyongyang's crumbling health system -- one of the world's worst -- where doctors had to be bribed to do anything and crucial medicines were lacking. 

Oh said it was eye-opening when the family first arrived in London in 2004 and became eligible for the National Health Service. 

Her son was soon able to get free treatment at one of the best medical facilities in the city, she said, adding that her children also went to British schools, where they settled in well. 

"The children grew up so bright in England, in a society that respected them," she said. 

It was a stark contrast to life in Pyongyang, to which they returned in 2008 after her husband's first London posting ended. 

Juhyok attended the Pyongyang Medical University, but instead of studying he was put to work on a construction site hauling cement, Oh said. 

North Korea is beset by labour shortages across economic sectors and it is common for the government to order students, even schoolchildren, to do manual labour as a demonstration of loyalty. 

If one fails to comply, the government reportedly withholds food rations or imposes taxes, according to a 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report published by the US State Department. 

As her overseas-raised children began questioning the corruption and injustice they observed in North Korea, Oh realised it would be impossible for them to fully integrate into Pyongyang society. 

"They had completely different values," she said. 

"It was then that I began thinking that if I ever had a chance to go overseas again, I will not return." 

Escape 

Oh's chance came when her husband was again posted to London as the deputy ambassador, and she convinced him to defect as she did not want to be "resented by her children in the future". 

She had hoped the North Korean regime would collapse after the death of Kim Jong Il, the father and predecessor of current leader Kim Jong Un, and was crushed when his son emerged as the third generation of Kims to rule. 

"In North Korea, you existed -- from morning to night -- for the sake of the Kim family," Oh said. 

Thae became the first defector to be elected to South Korea's parliament, where he is now a high-profile lawmaker for the conservative People Power Party. 

Oh loves her new life in Seoul, but is haunted by thoughts of her mother and siblings left behind in North Korea, which is known to punish defectors' family members. 

She can't check in with them: civilian contact is banned between the two Koreas, although some defectors have used intermediaries to smuggle Chinese mobile phones across the border. 

Oh has not managed to contact her family, but she once glimpsed her brother-in-law when he was part of an official North Korean delegation that visited Seoul in 2018 during a rare bout of diplomacy. 

It gave her hope that her relatives had not been purged by the Kim regime as a result of her family's escape. 

"Will they resent me? Will they envy me? Or will they silently cheer for me?" she said, wiping away tears.

Pope Francis asks North Korea to invite him to visit

Yahoo – AFP, August 26, 2022 

Pope Francis has asked Pyongyang to invite him to North Korea, saying in a televised interview on Friday that he would not turn down a chance to visit and work for peace. 

A potential papal visit to the isolated, nuclear-armed country was previously floated in 2018 when Seoul's former president Moon Jae-in embarked on a round of diplomacy with Pyongyang's leader Kim Jong Un. 

Moon, who is Catholic, said during a summit that Kim told him the pontiff would be "enthusiastically" welcomed. 

Pope Francis replied at the time that he would be willing to go if he received an official invitation. 

But Pyongyang has largely cut off contact with Seoul following the collapse of a second summit between Kim and then-US president Donald Trump in 2019, which has left talks at a standstill. 

"When they invite me -- that is to say, please invite me -- I won't say no," Pope Francis told South Korea's state broadcaster KBS in an interview that aired Friday. 

"The goal is simply fraternity," he added. 

Ties between North and South Korea have been at a frosty low since Seoul inaugurated a hawkish new president, Yoon Suk-yeol, in May. 

Yoon offered aid to the North in return for denuclearisation, but Kim's regime ridiculed the plan. 

The North blamed South Korea for its May outbreak of Covid-19 and earlier this month threatened to "wipe out" Seoul's authorities in retaliation. 

North Korea has conducted a record number of weapons tests this year, including firing an intercontinental ballistic missile at full range for the first time since 2017. 

'Work for peace'

The pope has repeatedly urged Koreans on the peninsula to "work for peace." 

"You, the Korean people, have suffered from the war," he said. 

Religious freedom is enshrined in the North's constitution, but all religious activity is banned outside of state-sanctioned institutions. 

In the early 20th century, before the division of the peninsula, Pyongyang was a regional missionary hub with scores of churches and a thriving Christian community that earned it the title "Jerusalem of the East". 

But Kim Il Sung, the North's late founding leader and the current ruler's grandfather, viewed Christianity as a threat and eradicated it through executions and labour camps. 

The North's regime has since allowed Catholic organisations to run aid projects, but direct relations with the Vatican are non-existent. 

When Pope Francis visited South Korea in 2014, he held a special mass dedicated to the reunification of the two Koreas.

N. Korea appoints veteran diplomat as first female foreign minister

France24 – AFP, 11 June 2022 

A career diplomat who speaks fluent English, Choe Son Hui
served as a close aide to Kim Jong Un during talks with the
United States LUONG THAI LINH POOL/AFP/File

Seoul (AFP) – North Korea has appointed veteran diplomat Choe Son-hui as its first female foreign minister, state media reported Saturday, as Pyongyang pushes ahead with a blitz of sanctions-busting weapons tests and ignores US calls for talks. 

Choe, who formerly served as the North's vice foreign minister, was tapped to lead the foreign ministry at a ruling party meeting overseen by leader Kim Jong Un, the state media KCNA reported. 

She replaces Ri Son Gwon, a hardline former military official who previously led talks with the South. 

A career diplomat who speaks fluent English, Choe served as a close aide to Kim during nuclear talks with the United States and accompanied the North Korean leader to summits with then US president Donald Trump. 

She held a rare question and answer session with reporters on the night the two leaders' summit in Hanoi collapsed without a deal in February 2019, blaming Washington for the failed talks. 

"I think the United States has missed a golden opportunity with its rejection of our proposals," she said. 

Diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington have since stalled, with the Kim regime in recent months not responding to the United States' repeated offers to return to negotiations. 

The nuclear-armed North has meanwhile carried out a blitz of sanctions-busting weapons tests this year, including firing an intercontinental ballistic missile at full range for the first time since 2017. 

US and South Korean officials have also warned that Kim's regime is preparing to carry out what would be its seventh nuclear test -- a move that Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman warned would provoke a "swift and forceful" response.

NKorea's Kim wishes Trump a speedy recovery: KCNA

Yahoo – AFP, October 3, 2020

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "offered his sympathy" to US President Donald
Trump and his wife, the official Korean Central News Agency said speaks during a
meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of
Korea (WPK) in Pyongyang.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent a message to Donald Trump after the US president's diagnosis with coronavirus, wishing him a quick recovery, state media said Saturday. 

"He offered his sympathy to the president and the first lady," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. 

"He sincerely hoped that they would be recovered as soon as possible. He hoped they will surely overcome it. He sent warm greetings to them." 

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said it was the first time Kim had sent well wishes to a world leader who tested positive for the novel coronavirus. 

Trump announced in the early hours of Friday that he had tested positive for Covid-19. Later in the day, he headed to a military hospital for further observation and treatment. 

Trump and Kim held three high-profile meetings starting in June 2018, after an uptick in tensions between Washington and Pyongyang at the start of Trump's term. 

But nothing concrete emerged in terms of Pyongyang's denuclearization, and talks have been officially at a standstill for months. 

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in mid-September that talks were ongoing behind the scenes. 

Trump has consistently portrayed his close relationship with Kim as one of his foreign policy achievements.

North Korea says no need for talks with US

Asiatimes – AFP, July 4, 2020

Dialogue nothing more than a tool for US grappling with political crisis, North's vice foreign minister says

North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said 'the US is mistaken
if it thinks things like negotiations would still work on us'. Photo: AFP

North Korea does “not feel any need” to resume talks with Washington, a senior diplomat for the country said Saturday, days after Seoul called for a summit as it seeks improved ties with Pyongyang.

The statement by the North’s vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui came after former US national security advisor John Bolton on Thursday reportedly said President Donald Trump might pursue another meeting with leader Kim Jong Un in October.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in – who has long backed engagement with the North – on Tuesday also called for another meeting between Kim and Trump, saying the South would be making “utmost efforts” to make it happen.

But Pyongyang does “not feel any need to sit face to face with the US”, Choe said in a statement carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.

“Dreamers” had been raising hopes of an “October surprise”, she added.

“The US is mistaken if it thinks things like negotiations would still work on us,” Choe said.

Washington “does not consider the DPRK-US dialogue as nothing more than a tool for grappling (with) its political crisis”, Choe added, using the North’s official name.

Bolton had reportedly said Trump would meet with Kim if it would help his re-election chances.

The North has “already worked out a detailed strategic timetable” to deal with the “long-term threat” from Washington, Choe said.

Talks over Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal have been stalled since a Hanoi summit between Trump and Kim collapsed in early 2019 over what the North would be willing to give up in exchange for sanctions relief.

Recent reports have said US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun is due to visit Seoul next week to discuss talks with North Korea, although the South’s foreign ministry has not confirmed the trip.

Last month Pyongyang issued a series of vitriolic condemnations of the South over anti-North leaflets that defectors send back across the militarised border – usually attached to balloons or floated in bottles.

It also upped the pressure by blowing up an inter-Korean liaison office and threatening military measures against Seoul but last week said it had suspended those plans in an apparent sudden dialling down of tensions.

Choe’s statement comes a day after Seoul’s presidential Blue House appointed as its new spy chief a former lawmaker who played a crucial role in organising the first inter-Korean summit back in 2000.

The move is widely seen as a sign of Moon’s determination to maintain pro-engagement policies despite the North’s abandonment of its nuclear and missile test moratoriums.

Ex-North Korean diplomat wins parliamentary seat in South

Yahoo – AFP, April 16, 2020

Defector and former North Korean diplomat Thae Yong Ho celebrates his election
in the Gangnam constituency on behalf of the conservative United Future Party
(AFP Photo/Ed JONES)

A former senior North Korean diplomat won a parliamentary seat in Seoul Thursday, becoming the first defector to be directly elected by South Korean voters.

Thae Yong Ho, who was Pyongyang's deputy ambassador to London before fleeing to the democratic South in 2016, shed a tear as he sang South Korea's national anthem after his win was confirmed in the early hours.

He stood for the main conservative opposition United Future Party (UFP) and took 58.4 percent of the vote in his Gangnam constituency, the wealthy Seoul district made famous by rapper Psy.

"Today is a very historic day not only for me but also for the history of Korea," Thae told AFP shortly after his victory was announced.

Officially he ran as Tae Ku-Min -– a pseudonym he registered under on arrival in the South to initially make it harder for Pyongyang's agents to track him down.

Thae comes from a family with good revolutionary credentials, but fled his post in London in August 2016 after becoming disillusioned with Kim Jong Un's regime.

He has since become a prominent and outspoken critic of Pyongyang and the engagement approach pursued by South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Moon's Democratic party secured the largest absolute majority in the National Assembly since the advent of democracy in 1987, on a turnout of 66.2 percent -- the highest at a parliamentary election for 28 years.

Thae said his victory will give hope to the North Korean people and the elite, and demonstrate the "real nature of free democracy of South Korea".

His election could be a window to enable North Koreans to "understand how free and democratic election would go", he said.

North Korea holds an election every five years for its rubber-stamp legislature, known as the Supreme People's Assembly, but the ballot papers for the vote each only have one name.

"One day in the future I'm sure North Korean people will adopt the same method of election process in North Korea," Thae told AFP in an interview during his campaign.

Ji Seong-ho, the crutch-wielding defector hailed by US President Donald Trump in his 2018 State of the Union address, won a proportional representation seat for the UFP in Wednesday's vote.

About 33,000 North Koreans have fled to the South in the past two decades, but it is rare for high-level officials to defect.

The North's state media has denounced Thae as "human scum" and accused him of embezzling state funds, raping a minor and spying for South Korea in exchange for money.

North Korea's Kim reshuffles top governing body

Yahoo – AFP, Claire LEE, April 13, 2020

Kim has established an iron grip over the levers of authority in his nuclear-armed
country since inheriting power in his late 20s in 2011 (AFP Photo/STR)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has carried out a major reshuffle of his State Affairs Commission, official media reported Monday, replacing more than a third of its members.

Kim has established an iron grip on the levers of authority in his nuclear-armed country since inheriting power in his late 20s in 2011.

He is chairman of the SAC -- the North's highest decision-making body -- and five of its 13 other members were replaced at a meeting of the country's rubber-stamp Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) parliament on Sunday, the state KCNA news agency reported.

"This is a rather large scale of SAC membership shuffle," said former US government North Korea analyst Rachel Lee.

Pictures carried by the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed hundreds of lawmakers sitting in close proximity to each other without wearing protective masks.

A cabinet report reiterated the North's insistence that "not a single case" of the coronavirus pandemic that has swept the world since emerging in neighbouring China has been reported in the country.

Pyongyang put thousands of its own people and hundreds of foreigners -- including diplomats -- into isolation and mounted disinfection drives as it sought to prevent an outbreak, which experts say could be devastating given its weak health sector and widespread malnutrition.

"State emergency anti-epidemic campaign will continue to be intensified to prevent the spread of COVID-19," the cabinet report said.

There was no mention on KCNA of Kim presiding over the meeting himself, and he did not appear in photos of it.

"The fact that North Korea went ahead with the SPA suggests the country's confidence in managing the coronavirus situation," Lee told AFP.

"The fact that the attendees were not wearing masks only reconfirms that."

'Serious mistakes'

The new SAC members include Ri Son Gwon, a former senior army officer named as foreign minister earlier this year, while his predecessor, career diplomat Ri Yong Ho, was removed.

Another former foreign minister, Ri Su Yong, was also taken off the committee.

Under Kim the North has made rapid progress on its nuclear arsenal, launching missiles capable of reaching the whole of the US mainland, and has been subject to increasingly stringent UN Security Council sanctions as a result.

Talks with the US have been largely deadlocked since the collapse of the Hanoi summit last year over sanctions relief and what the North would be willing to give up in exchange.

A budgetary report submitted to the SPA said 15.9 percent of state spending this year would be devoted to defence, KCNA said, a marginal increase on 2019.

The cabinet report acknowledged that "serious mistakes" were found in its work last year.

"They taught a serious lesson that if the officials in charge of providing economic guidance fail to fulfil their duty," the authorities' economic goals will not be achieved, it said.

North Korea "apparently wants to show its institutions are working and national safety is under control, while trying to lower public expectations about the economy by blaming the ongoing global pandemic," Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, told AFP.

North Korea's Kim warns of 'grave' economic challenge

Yahoo – AFP, December 30, 2019

Kim said the time had come to bring about a "decisive turn" in North Korea's
economic development (AFP Photo/STR)

Seoul (AFP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has warned top ruling party officials of the "grave situation" facing the nuclear-armed state's economy and called for urgent corrective measures.

His comments, reported Monday by state media, came on the second day of a key party meeting held ahead of a year-end deadline for Washington to shift its stance on stalled nuclear talks with Pyongyang.

Kim, who chaired the meeting, said the time had come to bring about a "decisive turn" in the North's economic development.

He presented the assembled officials with "tasks for urgently correcting the grave situation of the major industrial sectors of the national economy," the official KCNA news agency reported.

The North does not publish economic statistics of its own, leaving outside estimates as the only available figures for its financial performance.

Kim presented the assembled officials with 'tasks for urgently correcting the grave 

situation of the major industrial sectors of the national economy' (AFP Photo/STR)

In July, the South Korean central bank estimated that the North's sanctions-hit economy had shrunk by 4.1 percent in 2018 -- the largest contractions since the devastating famine of the 1990s.

Talks on denuclearising the Korean peninsula have been largely deadlocked since a second summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump collapsed in Hanoi at the start of this year over what the North was willing to give in return for sanctions relief.

China and Russia -- the North's biggest economic partners -- have proposed the easing of UN sanctions imposed over the North's nuclear weapons programme, and Pyongyang has given Washington until the end of the year to offer fresh concessions.

The KCNA report indicated the plenary session of the party leadership was headed into a third day Monday -- marking the first time since 1990 that it has lasted more than two days.

"Pyongyang's decision to host the plenary event for multiple days illustrates how gravely it views internal and external situations," said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior researcher at the private Sejong Institute.

Trump warns Kim has 'everything' to lose through hostility

Yahoo – AFP, December 8, 2019

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump cross south of the
Military Demarcation Line that divides North and South Korea, after Trump briefly
stepped over to the northern side, on June 30, 2019 (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

President Donald Trump warned Sunday that North Korea's Kim Jong Un had "everything" to lose through hostility towards the United States, after Pyongyang said it had carried out a major new weapons test.

"Kim Jong Un is too smart and has far too much to lose, everything actually, if he acts in a hostile way," Trump tweeted in response to the unspecified test at the Sohae space launch center.

The announcement of Saturday's test came just hours after Trump said he would be "surprised" by any hostile action from the North, emphasizing his "very good relationship" with Kim.

Trump and Kim engaged in months of mutual insults and threats of devastation in 2017, sending tensions soaring before a diplomatic rapprochement the following year.

The pair have met three times since June 2018 but with little progress towards denuclearization. Pyongyang has set Washington a December 31 deadline to make new concessions to kickstart stalled talks.

"North Korea, under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, has tremendous economic potential, but it must denuclearize as promised," Trump tweeted. "NATO, China, Russia, Japan, and the entire world is unified on this issue!"

Writing that Kim had "signed a strong Denuclearization Agreement" at their June 2018 summit in Singapore," Trump warned: "He does not want to void his special relationship with the President of the United States or interfere with the U.S. Presidential Election in November."

A spokesman for North Korea's Academy of the National Defense Science said Saturday's "very important test" would have an "important effect" on changing the "strategic position" of North Korea, in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.

The statement did not provide further details on the test.

A senior US administration official earlier said Washington had seen reports of a test and was "coordinating closely with allies and partners."

Trump indicated that military action was still possible when he was asked about Pyongyang on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Britain this week.

North Korea fired back that if the United States used military force it would take "prompt corresponding actions at any level."

UN diplomats fear that North Korea will resume long-range nuclear or ballistic tests if no progress is made soon in talks with the United States.

Sohae, on North Korea's northwest coast, is ostensibly a facility designed for putting satellites into orbit.

But Pyongyang has carried out several rocket launches there that were condemned by the US and others as disguised long-range ballistic missile tests.

Following the Singapore summit, Trump said Kim had agreed to destroy "a major missile engine testing site" without naming the facility.

Kim then agreed to shutter the Sohae site during a summit last year with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Pyongyang as part of trust-building measures.

Kim's horseback ride spurs policy shift speculation

Yahoo – AFP, 16 October 2019

Analysts say Kimg Jong Un's horseback hike may signal a new policy direction
for the nuclear-armed North

New pictures of Kim Jong Un riding a white horse through a winter landscape to the summit of Mount Paektu, a sacred peak for North Koreans, have fuelled speculation that the young leader may be set for a major policy announcement.

The images released by the official KCNA news agency were accompanied by a gushing text, that noted the "noble glitters" in Kim's eyes, and labelled his snowy, horseback ride "a great event of weighty importance" for the nation.

Accompanying officials were left convinced that "there will be a great operation to strike the world with wonder again and make a step forward in the Korean revolution," the agency said.

Pictures of Kim Jong Un riding a white horse through a winter landscape have 

fuelled speculation that the young leader may be set for a major policy announcement

Analysts said the hike may signal a new policy direction for the nuclear-armed North.

"In the past, Kim has climbed Mount Paektu ahead of major political decisions," said Shin Beom-chul, an analyst at the Asan Institute of Policy Studies.

Kim hiked to the peak in December 2017 before launching diplomatic overtures that led to his first ever summit with US President Donald Trump.

But negotiations have been gridlocked since a second summit between Kim and Trump collapsed in February and the North has been raising tensions through a series of missile tests.

The official KCNA news agency described Kim Jong Un's horseback mountain 

ride as 'a great event of weighty importance' for the nation

The sight of North Korean leaders riding white horses across snow-capped peaks – and in particular Mount Paektu - have been a dominant theme of past photos, posters and portraits of Kim's father Kim Jong Il and grandfather Kim Il Sung.

According to B.R. Myers, a professor at Dongseo University in South Korea who specialises in North Korean propaganda, the images present an imperial motif of a leader protecting the cultural and ideological purity of the nation from corrupt, outside forces.

Kim also visited the site of a giant construction project in nearby Samjiyon county, KCNA reported, and blamed US-led international sanctions for his country's hardships.

Kim Jong Un also visited the site of a giant construction project in Samjiyon 

county, KCNA reported

"The situation of the country is difficult owing to the ceaseless sanctions and pressure by the hostile forces and there are many hardships and trials facing us," Kim was quoted as saying.

North Korea is under multiple sets of UN sanctions for its nuclear and missile programmes.

Pyongyang and Washington restarted working-level talks this month in Sweden only for it to quickly break down, with the North blaming the US for not giving up its "old attitude".

North Korea tested this month what it said was a submarine-launched ballistic missile that marked a "new phase" in its capabilities -- the most provocative in a series of weapons tests it carried out since 2018.

Moon's posted two pictures of the pooches, one of them showing five furry white 

pups cuddled on Moon's lap with the sixth in the first lady's arms

Related Articles:

Doggy diplomacy: S. Korea unveils newborn Northern pups

Pyongyang gifts dogs to S.Korea's Moon

Two dogs, aged around one year old, were given as a gift to the South
Korean President Moon Jae-in (AFP Photo/Handout)

North Korea says to hold nuclear talks with US on Saturday

Yahoo – AFP, Kang Jin-kyu, October 1, 2019

Negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington have been gridlocked since a
second summit between North Korea's Kim Jong Un and President Donald
Trump in February ended without a deal (AFP Photo/SAUL LOEB)

Seoul (AFP) - North Korea and the United States will hold working-level nuclear talks on Saturday, Pyongyang said, signalling the resumption of dialogue that has been effectively stalled since the collapse of a summit in February.

The two sides agreed to have "preliminary contact" on October 4 and hold negotiations the following day, the North's vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

"It is my expectation that the working-level negotiations would accelerate the positive development of the DPRK-US relations," she added without disclosing a venue.

US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus later confirmed the talks, which she said would happen "within the next week".

Negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington have been gridlocked since a second summit between North Korea's Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump in February ended without a deal.

The two agreed to restart dialogue during an impromptu meeting at the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas in June, but the North's anger at a US refusal to cancel joint military deals with South Korea put the process on hold.

Relations thawed last month after Trump fired his hawkish national security advisor John Bolton, who Pyongyang had repeatedly denounced as a warmonger.

North Korea's chief negotiator also responded positively to Trump's suggestion that the two sides try a "new method" of approaching their discussions.

Trump had criticised Bolton's suggestion of the "Libyan model" for North Korea, a reference to a denuclearisation deal with the African nation's former dictator Moamer Kadhafi -- who was killed after being deposed in 2011.

Pyongyang had bristled at that comment, which Trump said "set us back very badly".

Consensus reached?

Despite the gridlock, Pyongyang has continued to praise Trump, calling him "bold" and "wise".

Analysts say Bolton's dismissal from the White House could have helped Pyongyang's decision to return to the table.

South Korea's presidential Blue House welcomed Tuesday's announcement.

"We hope to see the realisation of practical steps towards permanent peace regime and complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula through the upcoming talks," said spokeswoman Ko Min-jung.

The announcement on the new talks could be an "indication" that the two sides have narrowed their differences behind the scenes, said Koh Yu-hwan, professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul.

"The North has demanded security guarantees in return for denuclearisation measures and called on the US to come up with 'new calculation', he said.

"Consensus between the two might have been reached regarding the matter in the lead-up to the Tuesday announcement," he added.

North Korean defector mothers struggle in South

Channelnewsasia – AFP, 4 Sep 2019

North Korean defector Lim is one of hundreds of North Korean single mothers
in the South, struggling to make ends meet (Photo: AFP/Jung Yeon-je)

SEOUL: When Lim reached South Korea, she thought she had left behind the miseries of poverty and an unwanted marriage for a better life with her daughter.

She is one of more than 33,000 North Koreans - the vast majority of them women - who have fled to the South from hardship and repression in their homeland, where the Kim dynasty has ruled with an iron fist for three generations and stands accused of widespread human rights abuses.

The transition to a radically different, democratic and capitalist society - while juggling work, school and motherhood - is not easy. "Life in South Korea was the complete opposite of what I had expected," Lim said.

Nine years after arriving she still struggles to make ends meet, one of hundreds of North Korean single mothers in similar situations.

Their plight was highlighted by the case of Han Sung-ok, who had difficulties keeping jobs while caring for her epileptic six-year-old son. Their bodies were found in a Seoul flat two months after they are believed to have died from starvation.

The death of North Korean defector Han Sung-ok and her six-year-old son
sent shockwaves across South Korea (Photo; AFP/Jung Yeon-je)

News of the deaths sent shockwaves across the country last month and triggered an unprecedented campaign by the defector community urging Seoul to overhaul its aid programme for North Korean refugees.

"Han fled North Korea, where scores of people die from starvation, only to starve to death in South Korea," said campaigner Heo Kwang-il.

'VICIOUS CYCLE'

The vast majority of North Korean migrants go first to neighbouring China before making their way to the South.

As the oldest daughter, Lim - who asked to be identified by her surname only - left home at 24 to provide for her family but like many others was trafficked and sold to an abusive Chinese man, with whom she had a child.

After four years of what she described as "imprisonment", Lim ran away with her toddler daughter to Seoul.

At first, she took odd jobs but with no one to help look after her daughter, Lim was forced at one point to put her into care and contemplated suicide, tormented by the guilt of not being able to provide fully for her child or her family in the North.

At times she doubted her decision. "Sometimes, I wanted to go back to North Korea," she told AFP in her tiny flat.

Nowadays, she works as a waitress and is sometimes able to send money to her family in the North via intermediaries, and has no regrets - but it has taken time.

Life in South Korea is riddled with cultural and economic challenges for all new arrivals from its neighbour - the two have been divided since the Korean War fighting stopped in 1953. But single mothers face further complications without a family support network.

"When they have to take care of a child, they end up seeking part-time, unstable jobs," said Kim Sung-kyung, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.

"This starts a vicious cycle that holds them back from adjusting financially or finding stability."

'KOREAN DREAM'

The South Korean government provides newly arrived defectors a lump sum of around 8 million won (US$6,600) to help them settle.

They can seek additional aid but some give up, saying the system is too complex - especially if their education in the North has left them with limited literacy.

The transition to South Korea's radically different, democratic and capitalist society
is not easy for North Korean defectors, especially single mothers (Photo: AFP/
Jung Yeon-je)

Media reports say Han had sought help but was turned back by a district official who demanded legal papers to prove her status, which she could not provide.

"People come to the democratic South with the 'Korean Dream'" but many end up suffering from depression and other illnesses, said Lee Na-kyung, a defector activist for single parents and people with disabilities from the North.

Lee arrived with her husband - who has a disability - and their son in 2006 but was soon homeless after spending all their money on medical treatment.

She calls herself a "rare success story", saying her aggressive personality helped her settle in her new home, where she first worked as a gas meter reader and later became a humanities instructor.

The state has a pervasive role in North Korean society, where authorities impose extensive controls over individuals' lives, in marked contrast to the more individualistic South.

Many single mothers who come to the South "have no one to talk to and they feel cut off from the world", Lee said.

"They say even if they were poor in the North, they never felt isolated."