Thae Yong-ho at the Oslo Freedom Forum in May 2019 (Jay Nordlinger)

What’s it like to grow up in North Korea? Weird, beyond belief (and usually awful). Do they know it? Generally, no. What’s it like to be a North Korean diplomat? Well, you see things and hear things that other North Koreans don’t. And this can rattle your mind. What’s it like to defect from North Korea? Terrifying — and it puts you in the crosshairs of professional killers. It puts your family in those same crosshairs.


This has been the experience of Thae Yong-ho, who served as a diplomat in Europe and defected to South Korea in 2016. He has the ability to relate his stunning experiences, in very good English. He is my guest on Q&A, here. We talk about his upbringing, his career, and his decision to defect. We talk about the two Koreas. And the curious relationship between his old boss, Kim Jong-un, and the current American president.

To meet Thae Yong-ho is to meet someone very, very rare.