A North Korean embassy official who was stationed in Cuba has been living in South Korea for over eight months after defecting.
Chosun Ilbo reported that 52-year-old Ri Il Kyu, an embassy official in Cuba, defected with his wife and children and settled in South Korea in early November last year.
Ri, who began his career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Korea in 1999, spent approximately nine years serving in Cuba, earning him the nickname “Cuba expert.”
In July 2013, he won a commendation from the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for his contributions to resolving the “Chong Chon Gang incident,” where illegal weapons were caught being transported through the Panama Canal from Cuba. His most important mission during his second deployment to Cuba was reportedly to thwart the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Cuba.
In an interview with Chosun Ilbo, Ri cited senior officials’ demand for bribes and North Korean authorities’ refusal to treat his illness as reasons for his defection.
“When I returned to Pyongyang in August 2019 to discuss opening a North Korean restaurant in Cuba, the representative and deputy director from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked for a large bribe,” he explained. “I didn’t have the necessary funds, so I postponed the project. This caused them to resent me, and they attempted to summon me back.”
He mentioned that when he asked Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry to allow him to receive treatment in Mexico for nerve damage caused by a neck injury last year, “I received a telegram denying my request within 24 hours.”
Ri criticized Kim’s “impossible Korean unification” or “two-state theory,” stating, “North Korean residents desire and yearn for unification more than South Koreans.”
“Everyone believes that ‘the only answer is unification’ if they want their children to enjoy a better future. Today, the Kim Jong Un regime has brutally stolen even that sliver of hope that remained in the hearts of the people,” he added.
Ri is known to be the highest-ranking North Korean diplomat to come to South Korea since Thae Yong Ho, who defected in 2016 while serving as a minister at the North Korean embassy in the UK. Jo Song Gil, who defected in 2019 while serving as the acting ambassador to Italy, and Ryu Hyun Woo, the acting ambassador to Kuwait, held the internal ranks of first secretary and counselor, respectively.
