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Jan 26, 2010

N.Korean official defects

SEOUL - A NORTH Korean embassy official in Ethiopia has defected to South Korea through Seoul's diplomatic mission in the African country, a report said on Tuesday. YTN cable news network in Seoul said the 40-year-old medical doctor, identified only as Kim, fled to the South Korean embassy in Addis Ababa and asked for political asylum last October. It said the defection prompted the North Korean ambassador in Ethiopia to make a protest call to his South Korean counterpart. North Korean officials used cars to stage protests outside the embassy where Mr Kim stayed for up to three weeks, YTN said. South Korean foreign ministry officials escorted him to Seoul in early November, it said. The South's foreign ministry declined to comment. 'We do not confirm or deny any reports of that kind,' a spokesman told AFP. Almost 17,000 North Koreans have arrived in the South since the end of the Korean War, with virtually all fleeing via China. North Korean officials and diplomats defect relatively seldom. -- AFP

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