NORTH KOREAN DEFECTOR AT CENTER OF ASIAN DIPLOMATIC CONTROVERSY.(MAIN)

Byline: RONE TEMPEST Los Angeles Times

BEIJING -- The note, purportedly written by the highest-ranking official ever to defect from North Korea, said: ``Starting with my family, people will judge that I am mad. But the question is: Am I the only mad person?''

This message, South Korean officials said Thursday, was written by Hwang Jang Yop, 72, the North Korean Communist Party elder whom they claim to be protecting inside the heavily guarded South Korean consulate here. They also asserted that North Korean agents tried to break into the consulate building late Wednesday night but were repulsed by Chinese security police.

North Korea stuck to its …