Anchor: After escaping the Pyongyang regime in the summer of last year, former North Korean deputy ambassador to London Thae Yong-ho is now working to facilitate the reunification of the two Koreas. In an exclusive interview, our Kim Bum-soo sat down with Thae, who called for toppling the Kim Jong-un regime through popular uprisings.
 
Report: Former North Korean deputy ambassador to London Thae Yong-ho has called for expanding outside-information access for North Koreans in a bid to incite popular uprisings in the reclusive North.
 
In an exclusive interview with KBS World Radio on Thursday, the defector explained that popular uprisings will lead to a peaceful way to topple the oppressive Kim Jong-un regime.
 
[Sound bite: Thae Yong-ho - former N. Korean deputy ambassador to London (English)]
"I think we have to reach the goal of the elimination of Kim Jong-un peacefully by the means of people's uprising inside North Korea... Of course, at the first stage, the security forces of North Korea may try to stamp out that kind of uprisings but if that kind of uprising escalates to large scale from one part of the country to another city, then I think that the security forces may give up the crackdown... that really happened not only in the former Soviet Union but also in eastern European countries. So why not in North Korea... We have to educate the North Korean people for popular uprising... "
 
He said that the collapse of the Kim Jong-un regime will naturally solve the North Korean nuclear issue and lead to the peaceful reunification of the two Koreas. 
 
[Sound bite: Thae Yong-ho - former N. Korean deputy ambassador to London (English)]
"North Korean nuclear issue is not a kind of a bargaining chip. Kim Jong-un would not give up his nuclear development... Kim Jong-un regards nuclear weapons as the only guarantee for his survival and the continuation of his rule in North Korea. So, nobody can actually buy Kim Jong-un's nuclear program. The only solution to the North Korean nuclear program is to eliminate the Kim Jong-un regime itself."
 
To expand North Koreans' access to outside information, Thae requested KBS World Radio to carry the voices of North Korean defectors more and shed light on the destitute situations in the reclusive state.  
 
Following his defection to South Korea with his wife and two sons in August of last year, Thae said that he is now working on a goal to achieve unification of the two Koreas within five years. 
 
[Sound bite: Thae Yong-ho - former N. Korean deputy ambassador to London (English)]
"My dream is to modernize the road network of North Korea... my whole family will really engage in the reconstruction of North Korea to the level of South Korea. That is our dream."
"The reunification of the two Koreas can be a very good opportunity for common prosperity for China and Russia. If Koreas are reunified, a lot of investments and construction of infrastructures will happen around the Korean Peninsula."
 
Following the state intelligence authorities' investigations into his motives for defection, Thae since late last year began media activities in South Korea criticizing the Pyongyang regime.
 
The 54-year old former diplomat from Pyongyang is one of the highest-profile defectors from North Korea since late Workers' Party secretary Hwang Jang-yop escaped to South Korea in 1997.
 
The interview with Thae will broadcast on Friday, after which the full-length video footage of the interview will be uploaded on the KBS World Radio Web site.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News. 

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