A high-ranking North Korean diplomat stationed in Cuba defected to South Korea with his family in November, becoming the highest-ranking North Korean diplomat to flee to the South since 2016, Asian media reported.
A counsellor at North Korea’s embassy in Cuba has fled to South Korea, the National Intelligence Service confirmed to the Korea JoongAng Daily on Tuesday. The defector, named as 52-year-old Ri Il-gyu, who escaped with his wife and child, was first reported in an interview with local newspaper Chosun Ilbo earlier in the day.
Ri served twice in Cuba and is known as a veteran diplomat dealing with Latin American affairs at North Korea’s foreign ministry.
Ri’s defection is the fourth officially confirmed case of a North Korean diplomat defecting to the South during leader Kim Jong Un’s rule. Previous high-profile cases include North Korea’s former deputy ambassador to the UK Thae Yong-ho in 2016, Jo Song-gil, former acting ambassador to Italy in 2019, and former acting ambassador to Kuwait Ryu Hyun-woo.
Ri is the highest-ranking government official to leave the totalitarian regime since Thae fled to South Korea in August 2016.
In an interview with the Chosun Ilbo newspaper, Ri cited demands for bribes and unfair performance evaluations from the North Korean foreign ministry as reasons for his defection, as well as North Korean authorities’ refusal to treat his illness in Mexico.
According to the report, Ri was tasked with preventing the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Cuba before defecting. Despite being a traditional ally of North Korea, Cuba formally established diplomatic relations with South Korea in February. Work is also underway to open a South Korean embassy in Cuba.
Gratitude from Kim
Ri was thanked by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for his role in the release of a captured North Korean vessel that was caught with weapons in Cuba while trying to pass through the Panama Canal in July 2013, the report said.
He told the newspaper that he believes Kim Jong Un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, is unlikely to succeed him because “an atmosphere of mystery is necessary to gain absolute power and veneration,” and her exposure now leaves no room for mystery and veneration.
Ri revealed that Han Song-ryol, former director-general of the North Korean Foreign Ministry’s US Affairs Department, was publicly executed in 2019 on charges of being a US spy, and former Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho was sent to a political prison camp with his family on corruption charges.
He emphasised that North Koreans want reunification even more than South Koreans. He said in the interview:
The answer is reunification; this is a shared belief among everyone.
The number of elite diplomatic defectors from North Korea’s overseas embassies, which are considered outposts for foreign relations and foreign exchange earnings, has increased in recent years despite a decline in the number of overall defectors.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry says the number of elite North Korean defectors entering South Korea last year was “about ten,” the highest since 2017, although the total number of defectors last year was only 17 per cent of the 2017 defectors. This is due to North Korea’s shrinking position in the international community as a result of its ongoing development of nuclear weapons and missiles, as well as diplomats reportedly being burdened with demands for bribes and loyalty funds from Pyongyang.
Backing from another diplomat
Thae, who defected to South Korea and was elected as a lawmaker in the country’s previous National Assembly, welcomed Ri’s retreat in a Facebook post on Tuesday. He wrote:
My colleague Ri has finally “come out” to South Korean society.
Thae introduced Ri as an alumnus of the Pyongyang Foreign Language School, where he himself and his family attended. He also said Ri was a “Cuba expert” in North Korea’s foreign ministry, recognised by both Kim Jong Un and his father, Kim Jong Il. Thae also said:
Ri’s last important task at the North Korean embassy in Cuba was to prevent the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Cuba. Despite his efforts to implement Pyongyang’s orders, he couldn’t stop Cuba, whose heart was already set on South Korea.
