SEOUL – South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers on Thursday that a North Korean diplomat who went into hiding in Italy last year is now under protection outside the country.
Lawmaker Lee Eun-jae said the National Intelligence Service officials told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that Jo Song Gil, North Korea’s former acting ambassador to Italy, has left Italy and is being protected “somewhere.”
Lee said the spy agency apparently meant a third country but didn’t reveal which one. The NIS officials didn’t provide a specific answer when asked whether South Korea was involved in protecting Jo, she said. Lee provided no other details.
The NIS told lawmakers in January that Jo went into hiding with his wife in November. But the agency has a mixed record on tracking developments among North Korea’s ruling elite, which is made difficult by Pyongyang’s stringent control of information about them. (AP)
