Thai police question suspected Korean defector

Police in the southern Thai town of Aranyaprathet, near the border with Cambodia, say they are questioning a man who has identified himself as a North Korean air force officer trying to defect to South Korea.

The man says he fled North Korea seven months ago, travelling through China, Vietnam and Cambodia before arriving in Thailand to seek asylum from the South Korean embassy in Bangkok.

South Korean officials at the embassy say they have not yet been asked to intervene in the case.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service