잇단 北 엘리트 탈북...이유는? / YTN | Defection of North Korean Elites and Consequences

잇단 北 엘리트 탈북...이유는? / YTN | Defection of North Korean Elites and Consequences
Three officials in Office 39|of the N. Korean Workers' Party
who were in charge of managing|Kim Jong-un's slush fund
sought asylum in S. Korea.
A high-ranking officer of|the North Korean People's Army
was also reported to have|defected to the South recently.
What could such successive defections|and asylum-seeking mean?
Let us hear it from our experts.
Senior researcher Hong Hyeon-ik of|the Sejong Institute and senior researcher
Jo Bong-hyeon of the IBK Economic Research|Institute are here with us today.
- Hello.|- Hello.
So, middle-level officials in Office 39|sought refuge in S. Korea?
I heard 3 of them did.
Do you have any information on this?
I don't have anything special but|I heard about them coming to S. Korea
one after another since the start of the year|and that some were even high-level officials.
We have to check the facts but|there's a General Park Jae-kyeong.
He served as Vice Minister of the MPAF,|Defense Vice Minister,
and Vice Director of|the General Political Dept. in the past.
So he was a high-level official.
He even came to Seoul to deliver pine mushrooms
and participated in|the North-South Korea Summit.
He's reported to have defected.
Office 39 is composed of people|who manage Kim's slush fund.
The fact that they came here|makes us wonder
whether there's a big problem|in the N. Korean regime.
We must take this seriously.
Offices 38 and 39 appear|in the news quite often.
Does it mean anything that officials|from these offices sought asylum?
First, let me explain|what this Office 39 is.
It was established during|Kim Jong-il's time in the 70s.
It manages the slush fund of|the top leadership,
conducts foreign currency-earning|businesses and manages economic policies.
So it's like the Reconnaissance General|Bureau for the economy.
The official that recently defected|was a high-level official.
He's of a director-level who|oversees the office's overall activity.
He was a director in name, but|had more power than a minister.
A high-level officer defected to the South.
So we must consider many things.
Why did he come here?|There may be many reasons.
He may have been afraid of the reign of terror|of N. Korea, but according to his words,
he thought that Kim Jong-un's regime|had no hope.
In the past, an Office 39 official
would have lived a wealthy life|and had no worries,
but now things are different and|his future was not guaranteed,
so we will likely see more of these|officials seeking asylum in S. Korea.
Office 39 is related to the economy.
How about Office 38?
In the past, there were Offices 39 and 38,
but they have been integrated,|from what I know.
Before the integration,| Office 38 usually
conducted foreign currency-related|businesses at home
and Office 39 was in charge of those abroad.
Officials in Office 39 are often|seen in foreign countries like China.
Through their activity,|they earn foreign currencies.
They also manage the foreign currencies|within N. Korea.
Under Office 39,|there are around 124 companies
including trade companies and Daesong Bank.
It has 124 companies under its umbrella,
but in fact, it oversees|all economy-related organizations.
So that's what it is...(ellipsis)