North Korea's Kim Jong Un Facing Dissent From Political Elite, Says Ex-Diplomat

A high-level diplomat who defected from North Korea in August last year told reporters at a news conference in London on Tuesday that more members of the North Korean elite have been openly expressing dissatisfaction towards Kim Jong Un.

Thae Yong Ho, the former North Korean deputy ambassador who successfully defected with his wife and two sons aged 19 and 26 last year, said that low-level dissent and criticism of the regime — something originally believed to be intolerable — is becoming more frequent now.

"When Kim Jong Un first came to power, I was hopeful that he would make reasonable and rational decisions to save North Korea from poverty, but I soon fell into despair watching him purging officials for no proper reasons," Thae said during his first news conference, according to Reuters.

“During my first foreign posting in Denmark, I came to doubt and question whether North Korea could say that it was a true socialist or communist system. … North Korean society doesn’t have the concept of comparing. The more time you spend in the outside world, the disbelief in your system grows more and more,” Thae said, mentioning his first seeds of doubt, according to the Washington Post.

Thae has been openly defiant and has been encouraging revolt in North Korea despite South Korean officials fearing an attempt on his life.

"We have to spray gasoline on North Korea, and let the North Korean people set fire to it," he reportedly said. "I would like to make it possible for people to rise up. … We should educate the North Korean people so that they can have their own ‘Korean Spring."

In the backdrop of Thae’s defection, it was reported in November that Kim Jong Un oversaw 64 public executions last year, which included several disloyal political opponents such as North Korea's top education official, Kim Yong Jin, who was killed by a firing squad in August. It is also believed that public executions have doubled since 2015 despite tougher sanctions being passed by the United Nations Security Council in March, according to Seoul intelligence.

When asked if Kim John Un’s brother Kim Jong Chol would be a better choice to lead the country, Thae expressed skepticism.

"Kim Jong Chol has no interest in politics. He is only interested in music...He's only interested in Eric Clapton. If he was a normal man, I'm sure he'd be a very good professional guitarist," he said.