North Korea may seek to make an example of Thae Yong-ho, the North Korean defector who has called for another diplomat who has apparently defected from Pyongyang’s embassy in Rome to join him in Seoul and help achieve the reunification of the peninsula.

Mr Thae, who fled from North Korea’s embassy in London with his family in 2016, said that if Jo Song-gil joins him in Seoul then it will encourage more North Korean diplomats to do the same, weakening the regime of Kim Jong-un.

In an open letter on his blog, Mr Thae said it was a “duty, not a choice” for diplomats who have defected to work in the South for reunification.

“If you come to the South, other colleagues of ours may follow suit, which will expedite the day when the Koreas reunify”, he added. “I will wait for you in Seoul”.

Analysts believe that Mr Thae’s comments will further enrage the North Korean leadership, which is already reeling from Mr Jo’s defection and will be keen to dissuade others from following him.

“There is no question that North Korea can and does track down defectors, particularly the high-ranking ones who are outspoken, and often punishes those that it believes have betrayed the leadership and the socialist fatherland”, said Leonid Petrov, a former chair of Korean Studies at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris.