North Korean diplomat's dramatic flight to South Korea with family

The diplomat arrived from Cuba in South Korea with his wife and children. His escape coincided with behind-the-scenes negotiations between Seoul and Havana to establish diplomatic relations.

The escape took place in November last year, but only now has the matter been disclosed, thanks to an interview given by the diplomat to the daily “Chosun Ilbo.”

Ri Il-kyu was a political counselor in the North Korean embassy in Cuba. He revealed that he decided to escape "out of frustration and anger" due to what he called an unfair assessment of his work by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Pyongyang and the rejection of his request to go for treatment in Mexico.

In Cuba, Ri worked for nearly ten years. In the past, he was even awarded the "Kim Jong-un Commendation Medal" for his work. Recently, he was working to prevent the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Cuba.

Meanwhile, in February, both countries established formal relations, which was surprising. It was widely seen as a defeat for North Korea, which had long boasted of its brotherly ties with the government in Havana.

Ri is the first North Korean diplomat known to have fled to South Korea in the last few years. Previously, in 2016, a minister from the North Korean embassy in London made such a move. He was called "human sc*m" by the regime in Pyongyang.

Later, the authorities in Seoul confirmed that in 2019, Ryu Hyun-woo and Jo Song-gil, who previously served as North Korea’s ambassadors to Kuwait and Italy respectively, fled to South Korea.

According to government data, in 2023, 196 North Korean defectors arrived in South Korea, representing nearly a threefold increase compared to 67 in the previous year. Among them were about 10 individuals from the elite.