North Korea Diplomat in Italy Missing, South Korean MP Says

The diplomat, Jo Song Gil, disappeared with his wife after leaving the embassy without notice in early November, according to Kim Min-ki, a South Korean lawmaker who was briefed by the National Intelligence Service.

Earlier Thursday, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, citing an unidentified diplomatic source, said Jo, 48, had applied for asylum to an unspecified Western country and was in a "safe place" with his family under the protection of the Italian government.

A senior diplomatic source in Rome said Italy's Foreign Ministry knew nothing about the reports. A second diplomatic source said the ministry had no record of Jo seeking asylum in Italy. The source added that North Korea had announced in late 2018 that it was sending a new envoy to Rome.

"It was a perfectly normal procedure," the source said.

Kim told reporters he had some information about the case but could not discuss it.

"They left the diplomatic mission and vanished," Kim said, referring to Jo and his family.

If confirmed, Jo would join a slowly growing list of senior diplomats who have sought to flee the impoverished, oppressive North under the rule of Kim Jong Un.

Jo took up the acting envoy post in October 2017 after Italy expelled then-ambassador Mun Jong Nam in protest over North Korea's nuclear and long-range missile tests in defiance of UN Security Council sanctions.

Jo's stint began in May 2015 and was due at the end of November, lawmaker Kim said.

A source familiar with the matter, who asked to remain unnamed in order to speak about a sensitive political issue, told Reuters that Jo was officially replaced as acting ambassador by Kim Chon in late November.

The source could not confirm the JoongAng Ilbo report or whether Jo was still based in Italy.

South Korea's presidential Blue House said earlier Thursday it had no knowledge of the matter.

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