South Korea’s spy agency says it has yet to make contact with North Korea’s top diplomat in Italy, who has vanished from the public for months in a reported bid to seek asylum. 

According to Representative Kim Min-ki of the ruling Democratic Party, the National Intelligence Service(NIS) told him that Acting North Korean Ambassador to Italy Jo Song-gil has gone into hiding with his wife since leaving the North Korean diplomatic mission in Rome early November. 

The NIS said Jo began his stint in the North Korean mission in Italy in May of 2015 as third secretary, and was later promoted to first secretary, adding his term in Italy was set to expire at the end of November. 

Asked whether he thinks Jo will seek asylum in a third country rather than in the South, the South Korean lawmaker said it is easy to guess, citing the NIS’ comment that it had no contact with him since he disappeared. 

The lawmaker declined to comment on which country Jo might be seeking asylum or whether his children are also with the couple. 

The 44-year-old diplomat had been acting ambassador since October 2017 after Italy expelled Ambassador Mun Jong-nam in October 2017 following Pyongyang's sixth nuclear test in September that year.