Italy is not aware of any asylum request from North Korea's top diplomat in Rome who has reportedly gone into hiding in the country, a source close to the foreign ministry said Thursday.
"We have no knowledge" of such a request, the source told AFP, adding that the ministry had simply received a request for the "replacement" of the diplomat, identified by Seoul as Jo Song Gil.
South Korea's spy agency had briefed lawmakers on the fate of the diplomat after a newspaper reported that Jo had sought asylum in an unidentified Western country with his family.
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