[KBS World News English] 'N. Korean Diplomat Likely Returns to Italy under Protection'

http://world.kbs.co.kr/service/news_view.htm?lang=e&id=In&Seq_Code=142045

'N. Korean Diplomat Likely Returns to Italy under Protection'

An Italian daily said on Saturday that North Korea's top diplomat in Italy who disappeared last November appears to have escaped to a third country and returned to Italy.

The Corriere della Sera presented the speculation(추측, 짐작) on Saturday in a story on Jo Song-gil, the chargés d'affaires of the North's diplomatic mission in Rome.

The newspaper said that Jo was ordered to return to Pyongyang in September as his term was ending in November and he was taking steps for the transfer of duties. The report said when the Italian Foreign Ministry contacted Jo in November to take the final step for Jo's replacement, he must have already disappeared.

The daily speculated that the Italian foreign ministry informed Italian intelligence authorities of Jo's disappearance, and the Italian spy authorities tracked him down in a third country and brought him back to Italy through close cooperation with United States intelligence authorities.

The paper added Jo appears to be under the protection of Italian intelligence authorities, awaiting answers for his pursuit of asylum(망명, 정신평원).