A member of staff of the North Korean embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia defected to South Korea in August, sources told the Seoul based Yonhap news agency on Friday.

The unnamed DPR Korea embassy official appeared at the South Korean embassy in the Ethiopian capital asking for help with his defection to Seoul, Yonhap’s sources said.

“At that time, he worked for the North Korean office of the trade representative in Ethiopia,” the unnamed sourced said, “I’ve learned that he is not a senior official, though”.

The North Korean embassy later learned of the defection, they added, and expressed outrage,