So there is a reason for countries to host North Korean embassies after all. Sure, rather than the spade work of actual diplomacy, North Korea’s “diplomats” use their embassies to export counterfeit cash, go on illegal shopping sprees for their leader, and issue terrifying threats against defectors. But it turns out that the embassies have at least one salutary function: They can serve as an escape hatch for elites determined to flee the regime.

The Joongang Ilbo had the scoop Tuesday. A North Korean diplomat, then unnamed, based in London, had defected. On Wednesday, it emerged that the defector was Thae Yan-ho, the country’s deputy ambassador to Great Britain. According to the Guardian, Thae served a chilling function at the embassy. He “was to keep track of North Korean defectors living in London,” the newspaper reports. He also had the thankless task of ” rebutting UK criticism of his country’s human rights record,” a job that would likely spur even the most stalwart defender of the regime to consider new career options.