NK defector urges unification amid nuclear threat

Published : Mar 30, 2017 - 11:46 Updated : Mar 30, 2017 - 11:46

A ranking North Korean defector has claimed that the two Koreas' unification cannot be delayed further in the face of the North's mounting nuclear threats, a South Korean political party said Thursday.

Thae Yong-ho, a former North Korean diplomat, made the remark during a closed-door forum hosted by the Liberty Korea Party on Tuesday, according to party officials.

Thae Yong-ho speaks during a forum at the National Assembly in Seoul on March 28, 2017, in this photo provided by the Liberty Korea Party. (Yonhap)

"If we don't unify, and if the Kim Jong-un regime doesn't collapse, we will die," he was quoted as saying. "The issue of unification must be discussed as a matter of life or death."

Pyongyang has reportedly completed preparations to conduct a sixth nuclear test.

Thae noted South Koreans' apparent complacency about the possibility of a nuclear strike.

"Think about Kim Jong-un's character," he was quoted as saying.

"He has executed his relatives. Would he hesitate to use (a nuclear weapon) against the South Korean people?"

The North Korean regime must be brought down by its own people with the help of outside information, he added.

Thae worked as a minister at the North Korean Embassy in London before he defected with his family to South Korea last year. (Yonhap)