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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| North Korean ambassador to Italy in hiding, South Korean MP says |
| 2019-01-03 |
| [Guardian] A South Korean MP has confirmed that North Korea’s acting ambassador to Italy, Jo Song-gil, has gone into hiding, after reports that he had asked for asylum. Kim Min-ki said Jo’s mandate had been due to end in late November, and he and his wife had fled the North Korean embassy in Rome without notice at the beginning of that month. South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported that Jo had applied for asylum to an unidentified western country. JoongAng Ilbo’s source said that Italian authorities"protecting him in a safe place" but "agonising" over what to do next, the newspaper quoted an unnamed diplomatic source as saying. The Italian news agency, Ansa, reported on Thursday that Italy has not received an asylum request from a North Korean official. "For diplomatic purposes, at the time the ministry was informed about the changeover of the appointment," a foreign ministry source told the agency. "That changeover then took place." Jo, 48, had been acting ambassador in Rome since October 2017 after Italy expelled the previous ambassador, Mun Jong-nam, in protest at a nuclear test by the North a month earlier in violation of UN resolutions. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |