SEOUL (AFP) - The highest-profile North Korean defector in the South declared himself a candidate for parliament on Tuesday (Feb 11), in a move he said would demonstrate democratic freedoms in his new home.

Mr Thae Yong Ho, who fled his post as the North's deputy ambassador to Britain in August 2016, has since become a prominent and outspoken critic of Pyongyang and the engagement approach pursued by the South's President Moon Jae-in.