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Tae Yong-ho

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In this Korean name, the family name is Tae.

Tae Yong-ho
Secretary General
Tae testifying at the U.S. Capitol in November 2017
Secretary General of the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council
Incumbent
Assumed office
22 July 2024
Member of the National Assembly
In office
30 May 2020 – 23 May 2023
Preceded byLee Jong-gu
Succeeded bySuh Myung-ok
ConstituencySeoul, Gangnam A
North Korean Deputy Ambassador to the United Kingdom
In office
1 June 2006 – 15 August 2016
Supreme LeaderKim Jong Il
Kim Jong Un
Personal details
Born (1962-07-25) 25 July 1962 (age 62)
Pyongyang, North Korea
Other namesTae Ku-min
CitizenshipSouth Korea
North Korea (1962–2016)
Political partyIndependent (2024–present)
Other political
affiliations		Workers' Party of Korea (before 2016) People Power Party (2020–2024)
SpouseO Hye-son
Children2 sons
Alma materBeijing Foreign Studies University,[1] Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies
Known forDefection
Signature
Korean name
Hangul
태영호
Hanja
太永浩[2]
Revised RomanizationTae Yeongho
McCune–ReischauerT'ae Yŏngho
Pseudonym
Hangul
태구민
Hanja
太救民
Revised RomanizationTae Gumin
McCune–ReischauerT'ae Kumin

Tae Yong-ho[a] (Korean: 태영호,[3] Korean pronunciation: [tʰɛ.jʌŋ.ɦo]; born 25 July 1962), also known by his pseudonym Tae Ku-min (태구민), is a North Korean-born South Korean politician and former diplomat who served as a member of the National Assembly for the Gangnam district of Seoul. After studying abroad in Beijing, China, for a decade, he became North Korea's deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom, prior to defecting with his family to South Korea in 2016.[4][5] In August 2016, the South Korean government confirmed that Tae and his family were under their protection.[5]

Tae was elected to the National Assembly in the 2020 South Korean legislative election as a member of the People Power Party.

Biography

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Early life and education

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Tae was born in North Korea. He studied abroad in Beijing, China, at a young age, and learned English for more than eight years. After graduating from the Affiliated High School of Beijing Foreign Studies University, he studied at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) for his undergraduate studies. After coming back to North Korea, he went on to study at the Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies. Tae began working in the 1980s.[6]

Career

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He was North Korea's deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom until August 2016, defecting with his family to South Korea.[4][5] Tae was one of North Korea's elite, regarded by observers as a sophisticated diplomat who was one of the "best and brightest" in the country.[7][8] Following his defection, the North Korean government denounced him as "human scum", accused him without evidence[9] of crimes including embezzlement and child rape, and unsuccessfully petitioned Britain to extradite him to North Korea for trial.[10]

Tae signing autographs at Gangnam station at a commemorative event

Since his defection, Tae has given many talks and interviews about North Korea's secretive, authoritarian, and violent government.[11] Citing the killings of Kim Jong-nam and Jang Song-thaek, Tae believes that he is likely a target for assassination by Kim Jong Un due to his defection and outspokenness.[11] In an interview in January 2017, Tae stated that the United Nations sanctions on North Korea were hurting the Kim regime, and that it is under significant pressure.[12] In another interview the same month, Tae said, "I am very determined to do everything possible to pull down the regime to save not only my family members but also the whole North Korean people from slavery."[13] Tae believes that "Kim Jong-un's regime one day will collapse by a people's uprising."[13][14] In an interview in April 2017, Tae stated that Kim was "desperate in maintaining his rule" and was relying heavily on its development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles to deter an external attack and preserve his grip on power.[11]

Tae worked as an adviser at the Institute for National Security Strategy from early 2017, an organization affiliated with the National Intelligence Service; he resigned from the job out of personal will in May 2018.[15] He makes videos for the website Daily NK.[16]

Tae testified before the US House Foreign Relations Committee in November 2017. Tae advised the use of soft power, such as disseminating outside information, to weaken Kim Jong Un's rule.[17][18] He stated that the North Korean regime wants nuclear weapons in order to intimidate the U.S. into withdrawing its military forces from South Korea, thus weakening South Korea.[19][20] He also equated the North Korean regime to that of apartheid-era South Africa and Nazi Germany.[21]

In May 2018, Tae published Passcode to the Third Floor (3층 서기실의 암호; 3層 書記室의 暗號), a memoir of his life as a North Korean diplomat.[22] The book became a bestseller in South Korea.[23] A total of 10,000 copies of the first print run were sold in four days.[24] It is a rare example of a book written by a North Korean defector becoming a bestseller in South Korea. The memoir was described by Andrei Lankov as "a remarkably balanced and unbiased text" and it "writes about the North Korean system in a slightly detached way, describing how things are done but never going into a righteous frenzy of moralistic outrage".[25]

National Assembly of South Korea

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In February 2020, Tae ran for a seat representing the Gangnam District of Seoul in the National Assembly in South Korea's parliamentary elections in April 2020. During his campaign, Tae ran under the pseudonym Tae Ku-min (태구민), Ku-min meaning "saving the people [of North Korea]". Despite initially facing skepticism regarding his campaign and having no connection to the Gangnam District, Tae easily beat his opponent, becoming the first North Korean defector to win a National Assembly seat through a constituency vote.[26]

In May 2020, Tae apologised for claiming Kim Jong Un was probably so ill, he could not stand during a three week period, when Kim was not seen in public. The Democratic Party criticised Tae for carelessness, with some members urging that Tae should be excluded from the intelligence and defence committees.[27]

On 10 May 2023, he voluntarily resigned from the People's Power Supreme Council.[28]

On 18 July 2024, President Yoon nominated Tae as the secretary-general of the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council.[29]

Personal life

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Tae is married to Oh Hye-son (오혜선), a relative of Kim Il Sung's comrade in arms during the 1930s, O Paek-ryong.[30] They have two sons. Their older son is a graduate of a British university,[31] and their younger son, who was born in Denmark, when Tae was serving as a diplomat there, was studying at a London school.[32] The younger son had been offered a place to study computer science at Imperial College London.[32] However, the family had been recalled to Pyongyang just before Tae's defection.[33] Tae was able to escape with his wife and children, but his brother and sister were left behind in North Korea.[11] Tae stated after his defection that "I'm sure that my relatives and my brothers and sisters are either sent to remote, closed areas or to prison camps, and that really breaks my heart."[13][34]

According to BBC reports, Tae is convivial, and enjoys Indian food, playing golf and tennis.[33] In addition to Korean and English, he speaks fluent Mandarin.[35] In 2015, he escorted Kim Jong-chul, the older brother of North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, to an Eric Clapton concert in London.[36] During his time in London, he lived in a two-bedroom flat in West London.[31] Tae stated that he defected as he did not want his children, who were used to a life of freedom in Britain, to live a life of oppression in North Korea.[37]

Works

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  • Tae Yong-ho (2018). 3층 서기실의 암호 [Cryptography From the Third-Floor Secretariat] (in Korean). Seoul: Giparang. ISBN 978-8-96523-650-4.
  • Tae Yong-ho (2020). 태영호의 서울생활 [Tae Yong-ho's Life in Seoul] (in Korean). Seoul: Giparang. ISBN 9788965236061.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Also spelled Thae Yong-ho

References

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  1. ^ "Foreign Policy Association".
  2. ^ "朝公使太永浩投诚或由韩英情报机构联手促成". chinese.yonhapnews.co.kr (in Chinese). Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  3. ^ @uni_kr (17 August 2016). "태영호 공사는" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  4. ^ a b "North Korea's deputy ambassador defects in London: reports". Reuters. 17 August 2016.
  5. ^ a b c "North Korea diplomat defects to South". BBC News. 17 August 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  6. ^ Lauler, Robert (15 August 2018). "Dual Perspective: Reading Thae Yong-ho". Sino-NK. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
  7. ^ Blair, David (17 August 2016). "North Korea's 'tough' and 'sophisticated' deputy ambassador in London defects to the South". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  8. ^ "North Korean defector Thae Yong-ho was among Pyongyang's 'best and brightest'". South China Morning Post. 19 August 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  9. ^ Sang-Hun, Choe (20 August 2016). "North Korea Says Diplomat Who Defected Is 'Human Scum'". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  10. ^ "North Korea calls UK-based defector 'human scum'". BBC News. 20 August 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  11. ^ a b c d Lester Holt & Alexander Smith, North Korean Defector Tells Lester Holt 'World Should be Ready', NBC News (3 April 2017).
  12. ^ Paula Hancocks (25 January 2017). "Kim Jong Un wants to meet Trump, says defector". CNN.
  13. ^ a b c People will rise against N Korean regime, says defector, BBC News (25 January 2017).
  14. ^ Thae Yong-ho: Interview with a North Korean defector Al Jazeera, 101 East, 4 May 2017
  15. ^ "High-profile defector quits state-sponsored job". Korea JoongAng Daily. 25 May 2018. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  16. ^ "Fast and Accurate North Korea News". Daily NK. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  17. ^ Thae Yong-ho Prepared Testimony, U.S. House Committee on Foreign Relations (1 November 2017).
  18. ^ North Korea defector urges US to use soft power. BBC New (2 November 2017).
  19. ^ "North Korean Defector Testifies House Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing". C-SPAN.org.
  20. ^ B.R. Myers (20 December 2017). "North Korea's Unification Drive".
  21. ^ quoted from 2017 hearing speech, "AND ARE BEING PHYSICALLY OR SEXUALLY ASKED WHAT IT. WHILE THE U.S. SHOULD CAN SINEW URGING CHINA AND RUSSIA TO SUPPORT MORE ECONOMIC SANCTIONS, IT SHOULD ALSO DO MORE TO STOP BEIJING BRINGING DEFECTORS BACK TO NORTH KOREA. THE WORLD WAS UNITED TO ABOLISH THE SOUTH AFRICAN APARTHEID. NOW IT IS TIME FOR THE WORLD TO STOP THE WIDESPREAD AND SYSTEMATIC HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN NORTH KOREA. WHICH ARE TANTAMOUNT TO THE CRIMES COMMITTED BY THE NAZIS."
  22. ^ Sang-Hun, Choe (23 May 2018). "Book Explores Kim Jong-un's Feelings About His Mother, and Other Family Tales". The New York Times. The 542-page book, titled "Cryptography From the Third-Floor Secretariat," recounts Mr. Thae's life as a North Korean diplomat before he fled to South Korea in 2016, becoming one of the highest-profile defectors from the North in years.
  23. ^ "Defector's book becomes best-seller in Korea". Yonhap News Agency. 25 May 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  24. ^ "Senior Defector's Memoir Sells out". 18 May 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  25. ^ Lankov, Andrei (2 July 2018). "Thae Yong-ho's memoir: some key points". NK News. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  26. ^ Choe, Sang-Hun (19 February 2020). "Ex-North Korean Diplomat Runs for South Korean Parliament". The New York Times.
  27. ^ "North Korean defectors say sorry after false Kim Jong-un speculation". The Guardian. Reuters. 4 May 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  28. ^ "Defector-turned-lawmaker quits Supreme Council over controversial remarks". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
  29. ^ "태영호 민주평통 사무처장 임명에 민주 "극우 놀이터 의도"". 18 July 2024.
  30. ^ Kang Jin-kyu; Jeong Yong-soo (19 August 2016). "Defector is son of former comrade of Kim Il Sung". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  31. ^ a b Harding, Luke; Nagapetyants, Dina (17 August 2016). "North Korean defector Thae Yong-ho was 'sick and tired of regime'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  32. ^ a b Harding, Luke (17 August 2016). "High-ranking North Korean diplomat in London defects to South Korea". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  33. ^ a b Evans, Steve (16 August 2016). "My friend the North Korean defector". BBC News.
  34. ^ Thae Yong-ho: Interview with a North Korean defector Al Jazeera, 101 East, 4 May 2017.
  35. ^ Rothwell, James (20 August 2016). "Revealed: Secret lives of the North Korean diplomats tucked away in a London surburb [sic]". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  36. ^ Choe, Sang-hun; Gladstone, Rick (17 August 2016). "North Korea's No. 2 Diplomat in London Defects to the South". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  37. ^ The Incredible Guts of Thae Yong-ho, National Review, 8 July 2019
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