Jang-Yop Hwang was born on February 17, 1923 in Kangdong, P'yôngannam, Korea [now North Korea]. Jang-Yop died on October 10, 2010 in Seoul, South Korea.
The highest-ranking official to defect from North Korea. It was said that Hwang's defection was considered as shocking as if Joseph Goebbels had defected from Germany.