'Slavery' In North Korea? Under Kim Jong Un, People Live Like Slaves, Prominent Defector Said

A prominent defector from North Korea described the conditions under Kim Jong Un as akin to slavery, the BBC reported last week.

Thae Yong-ho, a former deputy envoy to London, left North Korea after seeing life for its citizens grow increasingly harsh under Kim. South Korean politician Lee Cheol-Woo told the BBC that Thae grew disillusioned working with the leaders of the North Korea.

"There are many ranking North Korean officials suffering from depression over concerns they will have to live like slaves for a long time if the North's young leader rules the country for decades," Lee said Thae told him, according to the BBC.

Thae, who has been protected by the South Korean government since he defected in August this year, reportedly added that there was a "tyrannical reign of terror" in Pyongyang, according to Sky News. The Sunday Express reported that another reason the former diplomat defected was that he was charged with the "impossible" task of bribing a British official to obtain nuclear secrets. After he defected, Thae was reportedly labeled as "human scum" by North Korean state media.

Life under Kim's repressive regime can prove incredibly difficult. The isolated country regularly deals with deadly food shortages and has an economy that is largely shut off from the rest of the world. Kim, however, leads a life of luxury as the country's supreme leader. This week he told people to stop whining and having a "defeatist" attitude.

"[There] are some units which memorize the party's policies only by word and carry out works by pulling the wool over people’s eyes and taking shortcuts," Kim said during a conference for the Workers’ Party of Korea, according to NK News.

"The parties of some countries who previously established socialist systems collapsed as they were abandoned by their people and drove socialism to ruin, and it's significantly related to the prevalence of the 'administrative bureaucratic tendencies'," Kim added.