A North Korean diplomat, Counselor Ri Il-gyu, who was responsible for political affairs at the North Korean Embassy in Cuba, defected with his wife and children in early November last year and has now settled in South Korea. Ri, 52, a key expert on Cuba within the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had been serving as the political counselor at the Cuban embassy since April 2019. His role included preventing the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Cuba.
Ri is the highest-ranking North Korean diplomat to defect to South Korea since Thae Yong-ho, the former minister at the North Korean Embassy in the United Kingdom, defected in 2016. Other notable defections include Jo Song-gil, the acting ambassador to Italy in 2019, and Ryu Hyun-woo, the acting ambassador to Kuwait, who held the ranks of first secretary and counselor, respectively.
In an interview with The Chosun Ilbo on July 14, Ri said, “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 joined the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1999. In 2013, while serving as the third secretary (officially first secretary) at the Cuban embassy, he negotiated with Panama to release the North Korean ship Chong Chon Gang, which was detained for carrying surface-to-air missiles and fighter jet parts. For his efforts, he received a commendation from Kim Jong-un.
From 2016 to 2019, Ri worked as the deputy director for Latin American affairs at the ministry’s headquarters in Pyongyang before returning to Cuba as a counselor.
Despite his elite status and accolades from Kim Jong-un, Ri said, “In fact, North Koreans yearn for reunification even more than South Koreans. Everyone believes that reunification is the only way for their children to have a better future. Today, the Kim Jong-un regime has brutally extinguished even the slightest hope left among the people.”
Kim Jong-un declared late last year that North and South Korea are in a hostile relationship, stating, “There is no possibility of reunification.”
