The South Korean government is questioning a former aide to the recently purged Jang Song Taek in China as he seeks asylum, the South Korean Munhwa Ilbo newspaper has reported.

The paper had previously reported on the aide on December 12, stating that he is a North Korean lieutenant general who had been in charge of managing foreign money and a secret fund for Pyongyang.

An unnamed source told the paper that a statement by South Korea’s minister of national defense yesterday that there is a high possibility of North Korea committing a provocation aimed at the South between the end