A North Korean ambassador believed to have valuable information about his country's missile sales to Iran and Syria has defected to the United States, officials said Tuesday.
The ambassador left his post in Cairo, Egypt, and almost simultaneously his brother left his assignment with a North Korean trade mission in Paris, taking members of their families along with them, the officials told The Associated Press, insisting on anonymity.They have left Egypt and France, and an announcement was expected later on their quest for asylum. No names were released.
Egyptian government sources said in Cairo that Chang Sung Gil, the North Korean ambassador to Egypt, was flown out on Monday using a false name and American travel document.
His defection is the first by a senior diplomat from the communist state. In 1991 and 1996, two mid-level diplomats in Congo and Zambia defected to Seoul separately.
Quoting North Korean diplomatic sources in Cairo, the official Middle East News Agency said Chang, 48, will be tried in North Korea, presumably in absentia, on charges of "escaping" and abandoning his duties.
Word on his brother's defection in Paris came from U.S. officials in Washington, who also declined to be identified.
Media reports identified him as Chang Sung Ho, North Korea's trade representative in Paris. Apparently the brothers coordinated their actions.
Cairo is a major North Korean diplomatic outpost, and South Korean officials view Chang as a valuable source of information about Pyongyang's alleged Scud missile sales to Iran, Syria and other Middle East countries.
According to U.S. and South Korean officials, North Korea can produce 150 Soviet-designed Scud missiles a year and has sold 370 to Arab countries.
There also have been unconfirmed reports that Egypt took delivery of North Korean materials and parts for Scud-C missiles in 1996. If fired from northeast Egypt, the missiles, with a range of about 310 miles could hit targets throughout Israel.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said the North Koreans reported Chang missing Saturday and asked it to investigate.
Said Ragab, head of the ministry's Asia desk, said North Korea told Egyptian officials that Chang left his home Friday.
Authorities searched hospitals and departure records at airports and seaports, but found no trace of the ambassador, he said.
"If he has left Egypt, he left under another name," Ragab said.
South Korean newspapers and television reported Monday that Chang, his wife, and their teenage children sought asylum in the U.S. Embassy in Cairo over the weekend.
A South Korean Foreign Ministry official confirmed that the family left Cairo for a third country - that was not South Korea.
South Korea's national news agency, Yonhap, said the ambassador was last seen Tuesday when he signed an economic agreement between North Korea and Egypt in Cairo.
More than 150 North Koreans have defected to Seoul in the past three years, most of them through China and other third world countries. Most have complained about economic hardship in their country. U.N. officials warn that North Korea could face famine without massive outside aid.