Alleged kidnapping of envoy's daughter by North Korean spies grips Italy
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The skyline of Italy's capital Rome, on Dec 11, 2018.
PHOTO: AFP
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ROME (BLOOMBERG) - Allegations that North Korean spies kidnapped an ambassador's daughter after his defection are gripping Italy, while the fractious populist coalition is at loggerheads over the case.
The controversy focuses on Mr Jo Song Gil, the former North Korean envoy to Rome, who disappeared in November while working in the capital, according to Italian newspapers.
The ambassador has defected and is seeking political asylum, said Mr Thae Yong Ho, a former senior envoy to London who turned dissident, Corriere della Sera reported.
In retaliation for Mr Jo's alleged betrayal, his 17-year-old daughter has been forced to return to Pyongyang by a special squad of North Korea's intelligence services, said Mr Thae, reported newspaper La Stampa.
Italy's Foreign Ministry, in an e-mail statement, on Wednesday (Feb 20) said Mr Jo and his wife left the embassy in Rome on Nov 10, citing a Dec 5 notification from the North Korean embassy.
SPY NOVEL
La Stampa called the affair "a pure spy-story, which would have fascinated Le Carre", a reference to John Le Carrer, the famous British author of espionage novels.
The Foreign Ministry said: "The daughter, having asked to return to her country and to her grandparents, had returned there on Nov 14 Nov 2018, accompanied by female embassy staff."
The affair has pitted Italy's coalition allies, the anti-immigration League and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, against each other.
Five Star lawmakers demanded that Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini, who is also Interior Minister and head of the League, should brief lawmakers.
"The affair of Jo Song Gil and his daughter, kidnapped by North Korean intelligence in Italy, if confirmed, would be a case of unprecedented gravity and who is responsible must pay," said Five Star's Manlio Di Stefano, undersecretary at the Rome Foreign Ministry.
Mr Salvini dodged the issue on Thursday.
"Ask the Foreign Ministry, it's an issue involving embassies. I didn't know anything about it, I have nothing to do with it," Mr Salvini told RAI radio.
