S. Korea rejects NK defectors' idea of setting up gov't-in-exile

Published : Feb 22, 2017 - 12:44 Updated : Feb 22, 2017 - 12:44

South Korea said Wednesday that it does not favor efforts by some North Korean defectors' to establish a government-in-exile, adding that the government is in charge of inter-Korean unification.

Local media reports said that North Korean defectors, mainly those living abroad, are seeking to set up an alternate government in a bid to put pressure on the North's ruler Kim Jong-un.

(Yonhap)

South Korea's unification ministry dismissed such an idea, saying that the Constitution stipulates that the Republic of Korea shall seek unification.

"It is understandable that defectors are floating the idea to unify the country. But we do not see it as desirable," Jeong Joon-hee, a ministry spokesman, said at a regular press briefing.

"The South Korean government is the one which shall seek unification under the Constitution," he added.

The report on a government-in-exile has recently gained attention since the death of Kim Jong-nam, the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Japan's Jiji Press raised the speculation that Kim might have been killed amid rumors about his possible link to the defectors' bid to set up a government-in-exile.

Other media reports said that a group of defectors in Europe had contacted Kim Pyong-il, a younger half-brother of late former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, to determine his willingness to become the head of a government-in-exile.

Kim Pyong-il, the North's top envoy to the Czech Republic, is seen by experts as a possible target of North Korea as its leader may want to remove any remaining threat to his rule.

South Korea said that it is highly likely that North Korea is behind the death of Kim Jong-nam. (Yonhap)