North Korean leader Kim Jong-un dishes out harsh punishments for those caught trying to flee.

A top diplomat suddenly goes missing from a prestigious post with claims he has escaped to another country.

But this isn’t any film and it is far from entertaining for the propaganda team in the North Korean government.

Thae Yong Ho, who had the task of promoting the secretive state to the British public, disappeared from his west London home with his wife and family several weeks ago, the BBC reported.

According to the broadcaster, Thae’s main mission was to convey leader Kim Jong-un as misunderstood.

In one speech he even went as far as to say the British were brainwashed by the ruling class.

“If the people in this country, or in America, knew that there is a country in the world where there is a free education, free housing, free medical care, then they’d have second thoughts,” he reportedly said.

South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilboclaimed the diplomat from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was seeking asylum in a third country.

“The DPRK Embassy made belated attempts to figure out the diplomat’s whereabouts, but has failed,” it said.

A North Korean diplomat has disappeared from the London embassy.Source:Supplied

It added he was under growing pressure to combat the diplomatic heat from the international community over North Korean human rights violations.

The paper also said it wasn’t unusual for some North Koreans to apply for refugee status in a third country rather than defect to the south.

However, the North Koreans who have defected reveal the enormous cost behind such a move, with families often punished and made to pay for those who flee.

Many do not see or hear from family again and don’t make contact for fear of putting them in harm’s way.

Those who are caught attempting to escape are severely punished, sent to labour camps and forced to undergo re-education programs, human rights groups claim.