Externally-focused North Korean state media on Thursday lambasted Ji Seong-ho, a prominent North Korean defector recently recruited by South Korea’s main opposition party.

The article is the first from the Uriminzokkiri to comment on the South’s decision to recruit high-profile defectors such as Ji and former DPRK diplomat Thae Yong Ho ahead of a parliamentary election in April this year.

In an article titled “Purchasing trash, not ‘talent acquisition’,” Uriminzokkiri referred to Ji as “cruel and tyrannical human scum” who is “running amok as a frontline of anti-DPRK propaganda conspiracy.”

The report, while not directly mentioning Thae — another prominent