From Pyongyang To Gangnam: The Ex-N. Korean Diplomat On The Ballot In Seoul

Seoul, April 8 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Apr, 2020 ) :For decades, Thae Yong Ho served the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, rising to become Pyongyang's deputy ambassador to London before defecting.

Now he is standing for election in South Korea's multi-party democracy.

If he wins his constituency in Gangnam, the wealthy Seoul district made famous by rapper Psy, Thae will become the first former Northern official ever to be directly elected to South Korea's parliament.

And he believes it would send an unmistakable message to the upper echelons of which he was once part -- that abandoning Kim Jong Un's regime could open up a different path for the country.

"I want to tell them that there is a new way for their future," Thae said.

The general assumption in Pyongyang, he explained, is that "if Korea is reunited under the concept of freedom or democracy", those who have previously served the Kim family "must be the target of the purge".

"I'm sure once we can change the minds of the elite group in North Korea, we can easily bring down the Kim system.

" Voting styles are radically different on either side of the Demilitarized Zone that divides the neighbours -- which are technically still at war.

In the isolated, nuclear-armed North, citizens line up to cast ballots pre-printed with a single candidate's name, under the watchful gaze of portraits of the country's founder Kim Il Sung and his son and successor Kim Jong Il.

In the South, a plethora of parties compete in a rambunctious, sometimes ferocious, contest for power, deploying everything from social media campaigns to squads of party members bowing to commuters to seek support.

The April 15 vote will elect a new parliament through a mix of first-past-the-post Constituencies like Thae's and proportional representation.

President Moon Jae-in's position is not at issue as he is directly elected, but the vote is largely a referendum on his performance.