Defector from North wins parliamentary seat in S. Korea polls

SEOUL • A former North Korean diplomat has won a parliamentary seat in South Korea's swankiest district, four years after fleeing a London embassy and defecting to the South.

Mr Thae Yong Ho was Pyongyang's deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom, where he managed secret funds for leader Kim Jong Un until he fled to the democratic, wealthy South Korea in 2016.

Mr Thae, 55, won one of three constituencies in Seoul's glittering Gangnam district for the main opposition conservative party in Wednesday's parliamentary election, beating a former four-term ruling party lawmaker by nearly a 20 per cent margin.

"I was dearly afraid if the Gangnam residents would take a guy from the North," a smiling Mr Thae said in an acceptance speech shared on his YouTube channel, as crowds of voters gathered in his campaign office, chanting his name and cheering.

"But so many people here gave me strength - they held my hand, welcomed me to Gangnam and promised to vote for me," he said in a voice made hoarse by weeks of campaign rallies.

Gangnam, a wealthy, conservative district known for its boutiques, high-end bars and luxury homes, shot to international renown through musician Psy's 2012 K-pop hit Gangnam Style.

Mr Thae, who had worked in South Korea as a foreign policy expert before launching a bid for Parliament in February, is the first North Korean refugee to become a lawmaker representing a constituency in South Korea.

The election drew unprecedented levels of participation from North Korean defectors challenging what they saw as the flawed cross-border policy of President Moon Jae-in.

Defector groups have complained that Mr Moon's administration has cut funding, ignored human rights and suppressed anti-Pyongyang activism in favour of pursuing reconciliation with the Kim regime.

REUTERS