AFP

Seoul: Top-ranking North Korean diplomat Thae Yong-Ho, whose recent defection gifted a major propaganda coup to the South, vowed yesterday to devote himself to exposing the cruelties of the Pyongyang regime and encouraging others to escape.

South Korean lawmakers who met with Thae in Seoul said he had fleshed out his reasons for defecting and testified to the precarious lives of senior officials in the North and the "capitalist" survival techniques of ordinary North Koreans.

Thae was living in London as According to lawmaker Lee Cheol-Woo, Thae said he had become increasingly aware of the "gruesome realities" of North Korea under leader Kim Jong-Un and decided defection was the only option.

Thae promised to devote his life to "freeing the North Korean people from repression and persecution," Lee said.

"I will engage in public activities even if it threatens my own safety," he quoted Thae as saying.

Intelligence agents who had been debriefing Thae since his arrival in Seoul told the lawmakers that he would be released from protective custody on Friday.

For all North Korean defectors, life in the South begins with intensive interrogation by the National Intelligence Service that can last for months and is aimed at weeding out possible spies.

Most are then sent to a resettlement centre for three months' training, after which they are free to start new lives in South Korean society.

Thae said life for high-level officials in North Korea could be extremely insecure, and it was perfectly normal for their homes to be bugged and monitored for any hint of disloyalty.

Lee said that Thae had confirmed the execution of North Korea's then-defence minister, Hyon Yong-Chol, in 2015.

Thae also described how many ordinary North Koreans had taken to small-sized market enterprise to help feed themselves given the failures of the state food distribution system.

Thae said more senior officials would defect from the North if they were less concerned about making a new life in the South, and urged Seoul to offer jobs and opportunities to encourage more to escape.