SEOUL, South Korea — He enjoyed a bit of tennis at the local club. He indulged in curry at an Indian restaurant in the west London neighborhood where he lived. As the No. 2 North Korean diplomat in Britain, he chaperoned a brother of his country’s reclusive leader to an Eric Clapton concert last year. 
 
 The diplomat, Thae Yong-ho, 55, seemed to embrace the trappings of a comfortable life in a capitalist capital thousands of miles from dreary North Korea, never hinting at disloyalty. He had lived in London for a decade, trusted because of his family’s impeccable legacy in North Korean history. 
 
 So it was a shock on Wednesday when South Korea announced that Mr. Thae had betrayed his hermetic homeland by becoming the most senior North Korean official to defect in nearly two decades. 
 
 How and when the diplomat had eluded his colleagues at the North Korean Embassy, who are required to monitor one another to thwart treason, was not clear. But a South Korean government spokesman, Jeong Joon-hee, said at a news conference that the diplomat had arrived recently in South Korea with his wife and family, proclaiming disillusionment with the increasingly isolated government of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. ||||| Image copyright Getty Images Image caption It is confirmed that Mr Thae (seen on the right in this file picture) is in South Korea 
 
 A top North Korean diplomat who disappeared from the country's embassy in London has defected to South Korea, officials in Seoul have confirmed. 
 
 Thae Yong-ho and his family are under the government's protection, a South Korean official said. 
 
 Mr Thae was the ambassador's deputy and is thought to be the highest-ranking North Korean official ever to defect. 
 
 His main mission in London had been to spread positive perceptions of the North Korean leadership. 
 
 He had been due to return to Pyongyang with his wife and children. 
 
 Mr Thae had come under pressure from his government to quash growing criticism of North Korea's human rights record, sources say. 
 
 The BBC's diplomatic correspondent, James Robbins, says it now looks as if Mr Thae's heart may not have been in the task of defending North Korea. 
 
 In the past, Mr Thae had argued the British were brainwashed by their ruling class into believing "shocking, terrifying" lies about North Korea under its leader Kim Jong-un. 
 
 "If the people in this country, or in America, knew that there is a country in the world where there is a free education, free housing, free medical care, then they'd have second thoughts," he had said in one speech. 
 
 South Korea spokesman Jeong Joon-hee said: "On his reasons for defection, Minister Thae cited disgust with Kim Jong-Un's regime, admiration for South Korea's free, democratic system and the future of his family."
– A North Korean diplomat stationed in London vanished in mid-July, and Seoul is now explaining why: Thae Yong Ho has defected to South Korea, in what the BBC reports could be the "highest-ranking" defection North Korea has experienced. The New York Times calls Thae the "No. 2" official of the five stationed at North Korea's London embassy, and the Guardian reports it is the first such defection to have occurred since the embassy opened its doors 13 years ago. Thae and his family "are currently under government protection and relevant institutions are going ahead with necessary procedures as usual," said a South Korean unification ministry rep. The Guardian calls the defection a "coup" for global intelligence agencies, who may be able to gain insight into Kim Jong Un's regime. In London, Pyongyang had charged Thae with keeping tabs on defectors living there, and was also supposed to combat negative perceptions of the North.