A London-based diplomat who defected from North Korea to Seoul has been branded "human scum" by the regime.
Thae Yong Ho, deputy ambassador to North Korea's embassy in Ealing, defected to South Korea with his family, it was announced this week.
He is the highest-level diplomat to defect from Kim Jong-Un's regime, according to its neighbour.
But in North Korea's official response through its news agency, the state accused Mr Thae of a series of "crimes" and claimed he had been ordered to return home to face investigation.
Instead, it said, Britain tainted its image as a law-abiding country by "handing over the fugitives without passports to the South Korean puppets and neglecting its duty to protect diplomats living in its own country."
It said: "This one clearly deserves legal punishment for crimes he has committed.
"But he proved that he is human scum that has no basic loyalty as a human and no conscience and morality by running away to survive and abandoning the homeland and parents and siblings that raised and stood by him."
Earlier this week, it was reported Mr Thae had concerns about living in London, including paying for the congestion charge.
North and South Korea are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
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