"잠적 北 조성길, 3국 거쳐 작년 7월 한국 입국"<br /><br />It has emerged that a former senior North Korean diplomat who went missing from the North's embassy in Italy in 2018 has settled in South Korea.<br />Kim Dami has the details.<br />After having disappeared from Rome two years ago, a former senior North Korean envoy to Italy is reportedly now living in South Korea.<br />South Korean lawmaker Ha Tae-keung of the main opposition People Power Party said on Tuesday that Jo Song-gil came to the South last year under the protection of the South Korean government.<br />Multiple informed sources confirmed later that Jo arrived in South Korea through a third country.<br />South Korea's National Intelligence Service has yet to confirm Jo's status.<br />But if confirmed by the intel agency, Jo would be one of the highest-ranking North Korean officials to settle in South Korea.<br />In fact, he would be the first North Korean envoy to do so since Kim Jong-un took power in 2011.<br />Previously, the North's former number two diplomat in London, Thae Yong-ho, defected in August 2016.<br />Jo became the regime's acting ambassador to Rome after the Italian government kicked out the then-diplomat over the North's missile tests in September 2017.<br />Early last year, Italy's foreign ministry confirmed that Jo’s daughter was repatriated to the North at her request after her parents disappeared.<br />But his whereabouts had been unclear since November 2018...with reports suggesting he was seeking asylum in a third country.<br />Kim Dami, Arirang News.<br />
