韓國：朝鮮人民軍一名高級軍官脫北

South Korea says a high-ranking North Korean military officer defected to the South last year.

The announcement was made Monday in Seoul by the South's ministries of Defense and Unification. The unidentified officer is a senior colonel who worked in North Korea's General Reconnaissance Bureau, making him the highest-ranked officer known to defect from the authoritarian regime.

The bureau conducts espionage activities against Seoul, including cyberattacks. The agency is also blamed for the 2010 torpedo attack against a South Korean naval ship, killing 46 sailors; an act Pyongyang has denied.

Last year, a North Korean diplomat stationed in an African country defected with his family to the South.韓國表示，朝鮮一名高級軍官去年脫離朝鮮逃至韓國。

韓國統一部和國防部星期一在首爾宣佈了上述消息，脫北的是一名大校，原在朝鮮人民軍偵察總局任職，韓國沒有公佈此人的姓名。這名軍官是脫北軍人中軍銜最高的軍官。

朝鮮人民軍偵察總局針對韓國進行間諜活動，包括網絡空間襲擊。該局被認爲是2010年韓國軍艦遭到的魚雷襲擊事件的幕後策劃者，那次襲擊造成韓國46名海軍喪生。朝鮮否認發動了這次襲擊。

去年，一名駐非洲的朝鮮外交官攜家眷脫北投奔韓國。

朝鮮大校脫北消息傳來前的幾天，韓國剛剛宣佈，一家駐外國營餐廳的13名朝鮮員工集體脫北，這是2011年以來，集體脫北人數最多的一次。

自朝鮮半島戰爭結束以來，已有兩萬九千多名朝鮮人脫北入韓。