Thae Yong-ho

Thae Yong-ho is genuinely one of the most remarkable figures I've come across — a man who spent decades as one of North Korea's elite diplomats, educated at the Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies and trusted enough to represent the regime abroad, then in 2016 walked out of the North Korean embassy in London and defected to South Korea with his family. When I first heard that story I thought it sounded like a thriller novel, but it's real. What strikes me most is what he did next: rather than quietly disappearing into private life, he wrote a memoir exposing the inner workings of the Kim regime, testified internationally, and then ran for the South Korean National Assembly, winning a seat representing Gangnam in 2020. The man went from Pyongyang's loyal face to Seoul's elected voice. That kind of conviction — and nerve — is genuinely rare.

Name (English)

Thae Yong-ho

Name (Japanese)

太永浩

Reading

て・よんほ

Born

July 25, 1961 (age 65)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Leo / Ox

Origin

Pyongyang, North Korea

Occupation

diplomat / politician

University

Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttp://www.thaeyongho.com/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%AA%E6%B0%B8%E6%B5%A9

Tags

• diplomat
• politician

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.