July 28, 2016•Update: July 28, 2016
By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
North Korean overseas workers have managed to escape their posts in Malta, according to reports Thursday -- as a further media outlet revealed that another citizen from the North has sought refuge at South Korea’s consulate in Hong Kong.
Seoul’s unification ministry responded only by confirming that officials are looking into the claim that two restaurant staff members and a construction worker had fled.
Local news agency Yonhap cited sources who presumed the three had gone to South Korea during a possible period of months since last summer.
The issue of North Koreans escaping from foreign postings has been particularly sensitive following the defection of 13 restaurant staff members from China to the South in April -- Pyongyang has openly accused Seoul of abducting them.
Overseas workers are seen as a key source of revenue for the heavily sanctioned North.
But government sources also apparently indicated that Malta is the first European Union country to deny visa extensions to around 20 North Koreans as a measure against state-sponsored abuse.
Interestingly, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se is set to fly to Malta for talks with his counterpart this Friday, as part of wider efforts to pressure the North over its nuclear weapon ambitions.
The European island nation has been viewed as having relatively good relations with Pyongyang until now.
Meanwhile, the South China Morning Post reported that a member of a North Korean academic contest delegation has managed to enter the South’s consulate in Hong Kong, where security is said to have been strengthened.
South Korea officially welcomes escapees from the North via a resettlement program -- but Seoul has also had North Korean propaganda to deal with.
A day after the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that pro-Pyongyang leaflets had been fished from the Han River west of Seoul, police stated Thursday that nearly 200 badges depicting late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il have been discovered in front of a hotel close to Incheon International Airport.
The South forbids even praising Pyongyang under its strict national security law.
