The Foreign Service Journal, October 2016

16 OCTOBER 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL A dministered by the Associates of the American Foreign Ser- vice Worldwide, FSHub. org is a comprehensive, searchable website aimed at making it easy to find Foreign Service resources. The website provides links to official, nonprofit and independent sources on a broad range of topics pertaining to Foreign Service life. A user-friendly gateway to essen- tial information and resources, the site is neatly organized by category: for example, FS Community Support Offices, Groups and Organizations; FS Social Media; Bidding, Travel and Moving; Back in the USA; Health and Medical; and more. You can find information and advice on such things as researching schools overseas, transitioning back to the United States and finding eli- gible family member employment, as well as financial and legal resources. As a “crowd–sourced” site, FSHub relies on the Foreign Service commu- nity to suggest relevant links. Read- ers can submit their links for vetting to fshub@aafsw.org. SITE OF THE MONTH: FSHub.org North Korean Diplomat Defects in London O n Aug. 16, a North Korean diplo- mat based in London defected; he was identified the following day as Thae Yan-ho, the deputy ambassador to Great Britain. According to the British newspaper The Guardian , Thae’s job at the embassy was to “keep track of North Korean defec- tors living in London” and to “rebut U.K. criticism of his country’s human rights record”—not an easy task, to be sure. Thae was able to escape with his wife and son (who was about to begin studies at Imperial College, London), according to Ethan Epstein of The Weekly Standard . Many who flee are not so fortunate, given that the government in Pyongyang often holds family members of North Koreans who work outside the country hostage. There have been several high-profile defections fromNorth Korea recently. A Workers’ Party official fled while working in Russia earlier this year. Another North Korean diplomat, this one based inThai- land, also managed to escape within the last two years. It seems that placating the North Korean political elite with visits to water parks and international food festivals does not make up for the constant surveillance they have to put up with, plus the very real fear of ending up in a labor camp, Epstein observes. Maybe, he asks, we should allow a North Korean embassy in Washington after all? n This edition of Talking Points was com- piled by Associate Editor Gemma Dvorak.