Speaking on condition of anonymity to Yonhap news agency, a South Korean government official says that a colonel with the North Korean military crossed the demilitarized zone last year.
"He is the highest-level military official to have ever defected to the South," the official said, according to Yonhap.
Spokesmen for South Korea’s Ministry of Unification and Ministry of Defense have confirmed that report, as well as related claims that a North Korean diplomat stationed in Africa defected to Seoul last May.
The colonel was reportedly in charge of the DPRK’s General Reconnaissance Bureau, and may have provided the South Korean government with details of Pyongyang’s intelligence apparatus.
On Friday, the South Korean government also announced that 13 North Korean restaurant workers had fled for Seoul after working in China.
"After an investigation, [we found] the 13 North Koreans used valid passports to leave the country normally in the early hours of April 6,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters.
"What needs to be stressed is that these people had valid identity documents and legally came to the country, not North Koreans who have entered illegally."
The timing of these accusations has raised suspicions. Given that the alleged defections occurred over a year ago, the fact that it is only being revealed in the midst of renewed hostilities leads some to speculate that the claims could be politically motivated.
With parliamentary elections approaching this Wednesday, liberals have accused the conservative government of South Korean President Park Geun-hye of using the announcement of defections as a means to influence her party’s voter turnout.
"I can’t help viewing these extremely rare disclosures…as attempts to influence the election," said Cheong Seong-Chang of the Sejong Institute, according to Raw Story.
Escalations have heightened following the DPRK’s test of a nuclear device in January, as well as subsequent ballistic missile launches. These actions were met with harsh new sanctions implemented by the United Nations.
Last month, South Korea conducted a massive joint-military exercise with the United States. According to Gregory Elich of the Korea Policy Institute, the drill "is explicitly intended to threaten North Korea."
"This year, for the first time, they’re going to be carrying out a scenario…which calls for a preemptive strike on North Korea and also has plans for what it calls decapitation strikes to kill North Korean leaders," he told Radio Sputnik’s Loud & Clear.
Pyongyang maintains that its military aims are purely defensive.
