A former high-ranking North Korean diplomat who defected in 2016 on Wednesday vowed to improve legal protections for his fellow escapees if elected to South Korea's National Assembly.

Speaking to media at Seoul's Foreign Correspondents Club, Thae Yong-ho said the "trigger" for his decision to run as a candidate for the opposition conservative United Future Party (UFP) was last year's controversial decision by the South Korean government to repatriate two North Koreans suspected of murder.