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　　North Koreans Defect to South Korea

　　South Korea says a high-ranking North Koreanmilitary officer defected to South Korea last year.

　　South Korea's defense and unification ministriesmade the announcement Monday in Seoul. Theunification ministry deals with issues between therival Koreas. That includes bringing families together from both sides.

　　The unidentified officer is a colonel in North Korea's military. He worked in North Korea'sGeneral Reconnaissance Bureau and is said to be the highest-ranked officer to defect from theNorth.

　　The bureau conducts spying activities against South Korea, including cyber attacks. The agencyalso is blamed for the 2010 torpedo attack against a South Korean naval ship.

　　Forty-six sailors were killed in that attack. North Korea denies it carried out the attack.

　　The announcement Monday comes days after South Korean officials said that 13 NorthKoreans recently arrived in the South. They say the North Koreans were working at a state-owned restaurant in a foreign country and defected as a group. That would make it the largestgroup defection since 2011.

　　In a separate incident, a North Korean diplomat stationed in an African country defected withhis family to the South last year.

　　More than 29,000 North Koreans have defected to the South since the end of hostilities in theKorean War. The numbers have declined since Kim Jong Un took over as leader in 2011.

　　I'm Mario Ritter.