RFA “North Korean Diplomat’s Family Missing in Vladivostok…Defection Possible”

The family of a North Korean diplomat in Vladivostok, Russia, recently went missing, raising concerns that they may have defected, RFA’s Korean Service reported on June 6 (local time).

The family of a North Korean diplomat in Vladivostok, Kim Geum Soon, 43, and her son, Park Kwon Joo, 15, went missing on April 4, RFA said, adding that they are the wife and son of Park Mo토토사이트, an employee of the Trade Representative Department assigned to the North Korean Consulate General.

The DPRK Consulate General reported them to Russian authorities when they could not be reached, and the information was published in a missing persons leaflet.

Mr. Kim and his son, Mr. Park, were last heard from on April 4 after getting out of a taxi on Nevskaya Street, not far from the consulate, and they reportedly did not have their phones with them at the time.

The husband, who is a diplomat, reportedly did not move with the missing family members.

RFA speculated that the couple may have defected before the border between North Korea and Russia reopened.

“There is talk in Russia that the border with North Korea is open and flights between Russia and North Korea are open,” Dong-Wan Kang, a professor at Dong-A University who recently visited Vladivostok, told the outlet. “North Korean workers or diplomats’ families are likely to enter North Korea, and if they have defected, they may have decided that now is the only chance to get out of North Korea,” he said.

Previously, in 2016, a diplomat attached to North Korea’s trade mission in the Russian cities of St. Petersburg and Vladivostok defected.