A top North Korean diplomat stationed in Cuba has reportedly defected to South Korea, according to South Korea’s intelligence service. This is the most recent defection by North Korea’s leadership class.
The National Intelligence Service confirmed reports that a North Korean political affairs consultant in Cuba absconded.
Authorities confirmed on Tuesday that in November, diplomat Ri Il Kyu escaped to South Korea with his family. Disillusioned with North Korea’s political system, Ri chose to defect after Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry unfavorably rated his job performance. The ministry also disapproved of his plans to seek treatment for a neurological injury in Mexico.
South Korea broadcasted the news of Ri’s defection, and North Korea initially ignored the reports. In the past, when North Korea was furious over high-profile defections, it accused South Korea of abducting or encouraging its nationals to defect. Additionally, it has characterized defectors as renegades or fugitives from justice who escaped punishment.
Since the late 1990s, over 34,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea in search of political freedom and economic opportunity. Most of them are women, and they are from the poorest parts of the north.
South Korea has also seen a steady influx of North Koreans with advanced degrees and professional careers fleeing the country. South Korea’s Unification Ministry said that in 2023, there was an uptick compared to previous years in the number of North Koreans classified as elite group members who migrated to South Korea. Around ten individuals made the dangerous exodus. Officials from the ministry have speculated that North Korea’s economic woes caused by the virus and its efforts to tighten state control over its citizens are to blame for the upsurge in high-level defections.
According to Moon Seong Mook, an analyst from the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy in Seoul, North Korean diplomats and others would hear about high-level defections like Ri’s, which might be devastating for Kim — but it is unlikely to cause the government to fall anytime soon.
