Senior North Korean diplomat based in Cuba defects to South Korea

A senior North Korean diplomat based in Cuba defected to South Korea in November, becoming one of the highest-level diplomats in recent years to leave the reclusive state for its rival.

Ri Il Gyu, a 52-year-old political affairs counselor at the North Korean embassy in Cuba fled to South Korea with his family, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported Tuesday, based on an exclusive interview. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service confirmed the defection without providing further details. His name has also been written as Ri Il Kyu.

“Every North Korean thinks at least once about living in South Korea. Disillusionment with the North Korean regime and a bleak future led me to consider defection,” Ri was quoted as saying in the interview.

Ri is one of the most senior-ranking North Korean diplomats to come to South Korea since the defection of Thae Yong-ho, who served as North Korea’s deputy ambassador to the UK until 2016.

Thae has said defections put strains on Kim Jong Un’s regime, which had relied on diplomats to help fill the coffers of the sanctions-hit state. North Korea typically brands defectors as “human scum.”

Any high-level defection can be an intelligence bonanza for South Korea, allowing it to look at the workings of North Korea’s secretive government.

Ri’s reported defection took place a few months before South Korea in February established diplomatic relations with Cuba, a country whose steadfast loyalty to North Korea had for decades apparently kept it from forging ties with Seoul.

The move riled North Korea, which appeared to punish its diplomats at its mission in Havana, the Seoul-based specialist service NK News reported. The announcement of ties with Seoul had been kept secret to prevent any interference by North Korea, Yonhap News agency reported, citing sources it did not name.

Cuba saw the move as a way of expanding trade with one of the world’s largest economies while South Korea saw the agreement as helping to raise its global profile, Yonhap said, citing unspecified observers.

In the wake of North and South Korea reaching an agreement that led to the two countries jointly being admitted to the United Nations in 1991, most member states were able to establish diplomatic ties with both parties.

Ri had been at North Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1999, serving under both current leader Kim Jong Un and his father and former leader Kim Jong Il, according to the Chosun.

Apart from his post in Cuba, he has served as the ministry’s deputy director for Latin American affairs and received a commendation from Kim Jong Un for his work on releasing a North Korean cargo ship detained in Panama, the paper said.

The vessel named Chong Chon Gang was seized in 2013 on suspicion of transporting drugs, then-Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli said. Instead, the ship carried anti-aircraft missile systems, missile parts and two MiG-21 jet fighters stored among 10,000 tons of sugar sent from Cuba.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry at the time called on Panama to release the ship’s crew, backing Cuba’s statement that the Chong Chon Gang contained aging weapons that needed repair and would be returned to the Caribbean nation.