Readers of previous articles by the present writer will know that the present author has a special interest in defectors from North Korea. As a result of their efforts a number of extravagant myths have been spread for propaganda purposes, largely because they tend to be from an upper middle-class background in North Korea, and in order to be able to afford an equivalent standard of living in the South they need to earn money by selling alarming stories. One of the few exceptions to this rule was Thae Yong-ho, who has been able to attain a status and influence no less than those which had before his defection.
Formerly North Korea’s deputy ambassador to the UK, he defected to the South because he did not want his children to a life of political indoctrination and potato planting. After his arrival in South Korea, Thae Yong-ho did not choose to take on the role of a professional purveyor of horror stories, but rather gave a relatively honest interview, insofar as this was possible, and then started working in a secret research institute (in reality, for the intelligence services). However, when Moon Jae-in came to power, he left his position as a civil servant, as he claims, because he was requested to adopt a more conciliatory position. He then joined the Conservative Party and in 2020 was voted in as a deputy for Seoul, at the time a city seen as the preserve of the Democrats. It is true that he stood as a candidate in a constituency with a lot of wealthy residents, who tend to favor the Conservatives.
Currently he is a supporter of Yoon Sook-yeol, and in 2023 he joined the Supreme Council of his party. As a politician he is known for his aggressive stance against North Korea, and also, like many of Yoon Sook-yeol’s supporters, his support for “humane values”. For example, he has proposed a draft law, prohibiting the slaughter of dogs and cats and the sale of their meat as food.
However, this year Thae Yong-ho has featured in a number of scandals. On February 12 Thae Yong-ho stated in a speech he made at a Party meeting that the 1948 Jeju Island uprising was “obviously triggered by instructions from Kim Il-sung. Although he later apologized and published a photograph of himself kneeling in front of a memorial to the victims, the Democratic Party called for him to be investigated by the Parliamentary ethics committee for making “distorting statements about the civilian uprising”. The Democratic lawmaker Wi Seong-gon, who represents one of the districts on the island, stated that “I believe Rep. Thae has a huge problem with his perception of history,” and called on him to resign his seat in parliament and make an apology, and also called on the ruling party to expel him. Oh Young-hun, Governor of the island and a member of the Democratic Party, also called him to resign.
Thae Yong-ho, however, refused to apologize. He explained that his statement was based on information he had obtained during his study at university in North Korea, adding that in his view “the person who should apologize is Kim Il-sung’s grandson Kim Jong-un”. He added that his view was the same as that of the former Democratic President Kim Dae-jung, who claimed that many innocent people had been killed as a result of the “riots provoked by the Communists”. However, that disorder was primarily in reaction to the arbitrary conduct of the local authorities, although the official propaganda of both South Korea (before the Democrats came into power) and North Korea had presented it as a revolt organized by the Communists. Both sides were pragmatic in their approach, and, given the implacable enmity between the two Koreas, South Korean propaganda tended to present any opponent of the military dictatorship as a “Red”, whether they were a North Korean supporter, a Marxist or other type of leftist, or a democrat who supported universal human values, such as Kim Dae-jung.
The Democrats then again called for Thae Yong-ho to be punished for provocative statements addressed to them in relation to the investigation into the Song Young-gil case – he referred to the party as the Junk Money Sex (or JMS) Democrats. This was clearly a reference to JMS, or Jesus Morning Star, of a vile pseudo-Protestant cult that became infamous after its leader was charged with multiple offences of sexual assault- a scandal which later became the subject of a high-profile documentary.
And then, in May 2023 Thae Yong-ho’s troubles took a turn for the worse when he turned out to be involved in two more scandals. Firstly, it was reported in the media that after the most recent regional elections he had accepted payments and gifts from members of the regional and municipal councils elected by his constituency, as a token of “gratitude” for his support for their nomination. The former officer of the North Korean Foreign Ministry described the transfers of funds as “voluntary donations for media expenses” (specifically, his YouTube channel), and categorically denied the allegations of taking bribes, which he dismissed as “absurd and unworthy of comment”, adding that intended to take legal action to fight this attack on his reputation and good name.
Secondly, Thae Yong-ho took part in a conversation about possible intervention by the presidential administration in the procedure for nominating candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections. The conversation in question was a telephone call between him and Lee Jin-bok, the President’s senior secretary for political affairs. In his official capacity Lee Jin-bok is suspected of having supported the President’s efforts to improve relations between South Korea and Japan in exchange for the President nominating him as a candidate in the next parliamentary elections, scheduled for April 10, 2024.
At first, Thae Yong-ho insisted: “I had no conversations at all with Lee, the senior secretary for political affairs, about sending statements made by members of the Supreme Council or about the party’s nomination of candidates”, but television channel MBC released a recording of a conversation between Thae Yong-ho and his assistants, referring to an assurance given to Lee Jin-bok that he could be sure of being nominated as a candidate in next year’s elections if he supported the President’s diplomatic initiatives in relation to Japan.
As a result, on May 3 the central Ethics Committee of the governing People Power Party held an expert meeting concerning Thae Yong-ho and the scandal related to the “leaked” recording of his call with Lee Jin-bok. As a result of the meeting a decision was taken to launch a disciplinary investigation into the conduct of the former North Korean diplomat.
On May 8, after five hours of deliberations the Committee decided to meet the following day after confirming certain additional facts, but on the morning of May 9, eight hours before the start of the meeting, Thae Yong-ho organized a special press conference in which he announced his resignation from the party’s Supreme Council. Thae Yong-hon explained that he was resigning because his actions had caused inconvenience and problems to the public, his fellow party members and Yoon Seok-yeol’s government, and that he took full responsibility for the contradictions and no longer wants to “be a burden to the party”, especially now, on the anniversary of Yoon’s coming to power.
In the end, Thae Yong-hon was let off fairly lightly, although the Democrats are trying to keep a balance between the Thae Yong-hon scandal and the corruption cases involving the current president Yoon Suk Yeol and the former president Song Young-gil. His party membership has been suspended for three months, which means that he will be able to stand as a candidate in next year’s parliamentary actions. Things were different for lawmaker Kim Jae-won, whose case was considered in the same meeting – he was suspended for a year and prevented from standing as a candidate next year. Time will tell whether he has lost the party’s confidence, or whether he will be able to continue his party career – after all the Conservatives do not have many members who are as high-profile and charismatic as he is.
Konstantin Asmolov, PhD in History, leading research fellow at the Center for Korean Studies of the Institute of China and Modern Asia at the Russian Academy of Sciences, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”