The son of high-profile South Korean defectors has reportedly moved to North Korea, in a rare case of someone defecting to the impoverished dictatorship.
Choe In-guk is the son of a South Korean ex-foreign minister who defected to the North with his wife in 1986.
According to North Korean media, the 72-year-old arrived in Pyongyang on Saturday to dedicate his life to Korean unification at the guidance of leader Kim Jong-Un.
The statement on the website said it was his parents’ “dying wishes” for Mr Choe to live in North Korea for good.
Defections to North Korea are very rare. It is more common for people from the North to try to escape to the South.
Some analysts say North Korea accepted Mr Choe so it could use him as a propaganda tool to tell its citizens its system is superior to South Korea's.
South Korea's Unification Ministry confirmed that Mr Choe did not request permission for his trip.
Ministry spokesman Lee Sang-min told reporters Monday that authorities were trying to determine details about Mr Choe's travel to North Korea.
The two Koreas, split along the world's most heavily fortified border for about 70 years, bar their citizens from visiting each other's territory and exchanging phone calls, letters or emails without special permission.
Under a South Korean security law, people who secretly visit North Korea could face up to 10 years in prison.
Since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, more than 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea to avoid political repression and economic poverty.
A small number of South Koreans suffering economic hardship at home have gone to North Korea to live in past years, but North Korea is known to have repatriated such people.
