Foreign Affairs

High-Level North Korean Defector Says Kim’s ‘Days Are Numbered’

No featured image available

A former North Korean official who defected to South Korea last summer says the people are turning on Kim Jong-un.

“Kim’s days are numbered,” Thae Yong-ho, North Korea’s former deputy ambassador to Britain, said Wednesday.

“Low-level dissent or criticism of the regime, until recently unthinkable, is becoming more frequent,” Thae explained, predicting a “people’s uprising.”

Thae abandoned his position and fled the North after experiencing disillusionment with Kim Jong-un’s “tyrannical reign of terror.” He defected to South Korea with his wife and two sons this past summer.

“When Kim Jong-un first came to power, I was hopeful that he would make reasonable and rational decisions to save North Korea from poverty, but I soon fell into despair watching him purging officials for no proper reasons,” he added. “I am sure that more defections of my colleagues will take place since North Korea is already on the slippery slope,” he added.

“We have to spray gasoline on North Korea, and let the North Korean people set fire to it,'” Thae stressed, pointing to the value of information when it comes to bringing down the regime.

Thae did, however, acknowledge that Kim won’t go down without a fight.

“Kim Jong-un knows quite well that a nuclear weapon is the only guarantee for his rule. If he lose the power then it is his last day. He may do anything,” he said.

“I think that Kim Jong-un will press the button if his rule and his dynasty are threatened,” Thae said in response to questions about whether or not North Korea would fire a nuclear weapon at the U.S.

Thae said there is only one way to end the North Korean nuclear threat.

“To resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, there is no other way but to eliminate the Kim Jong Un regime,” he explained.

North Korea refers to Thae as “human scum.”

Follow Ryan on Twitter

Send tips to ryan@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.