Government officials in South Korea are reporting that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sent assassins abroad to kill or abduct defectors, Japan's Asahi Shimbun reports. Kim made the edict after several high-profile defections from the country. "North Koreans have recently defected on political grounds rather than economic reasons in quick succession. North Korea seems to be feeling that its political system is in danger," said an official at the South Korea Ministry of Unification.
In one case, 12 female restaurant workers and their manager defected en masse to South Korea this past spring. Six days ago, North Korea's deputy ambassador to Britain defected to South Korea, with officials saying he was "sick and tired" of Kim's rule.
North Korea has successfully killed defectors in the past, such as when the nephew of the former wife of the previous North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, was assassinated in South Korea in 1997.