As it turns out, North Korea lost one of its top-ranking officials last year, as defense officials in Seoul, South Korea, announced on Monday that a colonel who worked for the North's General Reconnaissance Bureau defected to the South sometime last year.
The news was announced by Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang Gyun, who provided details about the defection at a press briefing in the South Korean capital. According to the South's Ministry of Unification, the defection of the colonel serves as a great example of just how unstable the North's leadership currently is.
What is particularly ironic is the fact that back in the North, the colonel specialized in espionage activities against the South. After the high-ranking official defected, he was reportedly granted political asylum by South Korea.
North Korea's General Reconnaissance Bureau is believed to be an organization focused on developing measures to infiltrate the computer networks of the South and other countries. Though it has not been confirmed, the bureau is believed to be the organization which successfully hacked into Sony Pictures' computers in 2014.
But that is not all. South Korea's Unification Ministry also reported that a senior North Korean diplomat stationed in an African country has decided to defect to South Korea last year, taking his family with him.
Also, a group of 13 North Koreans has reportedly defected to the South. The 13 were allegedly workers at a restaurant in China who grew disillusioned about the North Korean regime after being exposed to the outside world.
An important part of North Korea's revenue comes from employees who work abroad and operate businesses such as restaurants across countries such as China.
Though defections are a sensitive subject, the Chinese government nonetheless confirmed the defections in an announcement. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang described the defection.
"After an investigation, (we found) the 13 North Koreans used valid passports to leave the country normally in the early hours of April 6. 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," he said.
North Korea has not issued a statement about the defections so far.
