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A view of Rome

On Jan. 3, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) informed members of the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee that North Korea’s charge d’affaires to Italy, Jo Song-gil, left the embassy in early Nov. 2018 and has been in hiding since then.

Rep. Kim Min-gi, the ranking member of the Democratic Party in the committee, reported being briefed about this by NIS officials including First Deputy Director Suh Dong-gu during a meeting with reporters at the National Assembly Hall on Thursday. “Jo Song-gil’s term was set to expire at the end of Nov. 2018, but according to the NIS, he and his wife left the embassy and went into hiding in early November before his term was up,” Kim said.

Kim explained that there were a total of four people working at the North Korean embassy to Italy: two first secretaries (including charge d’affaires Jo), one third secretary, and one councilor, a position that outranks a first secretary. Jo reportedly began work at the embassy as a third secretary in May 2015 and was later promoted to first secretary. “There was a counselor who was higher ranking than Jo as first secretary, but Jo became the charge d’affaires anyway because the counselor was linked to agriculture,” Kim said.

Kim said he was “unable to confirm” a press report claiming that Jo has asked the Italian government for protection and is seeking asylum in another country. When asked whether Jo had gone into hiding with his children to give them a better education, the lawmaker said “the NIS didn’t brief us about that.”

Kim did predict, however, that Jo is unlikely to come to South Korea if he is pursuing asylum in another country. “The NIS said that Jo had not contacted them during the two months he has been in hiding. The NIS’s conclusion hasn’t been confirmed, but considering Jo’s lack of contact with the NIS during those two months, we can probably assume that [he isn’t seeking asylum in South Korea],” Kim said.

By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter

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