Senior North Korean diplomat defects to South Korea amid growing elite exodus

Ri, who reportedly suffers from neural damage, said the necessary medical equipment was unavailable in Cuban hospitals due to international sanctions. Other South Korean media outlets corroborated the details of Ri’s defection.

North Korea has not responded to the news.

Historically, it has reacted to high-profile defections by accusing South Korea of kidnapping its citizens or enticing them to defect, labelling the defectors as traitors or criminals.

Ri’s defection occurred before South Korea and Cuba established diplomatic ties in February, a development that experts believe dealt a significant political blow to North Korea. The Chosun Ilbo reported that Ri had been tasked to prevent Cuba from opening diplomatic relations with South Korea until his defection. He was previously commended by Kim Jong Un for his role in negotiating the release of a North Korean ship detained in Panama in 2013.

Since the late 1990s, about 34,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea, fundamentally to escape economic hardship and political oppression. Recently, there has been an increase in defections among highly educated North Koreans with professional backgrounds. In 2023, about ten members of North Korea’s elite resettled in South Korea, according to the Unification Ministry. The spike in high-level defections is attributed to North Korea’s pandemic-related economic struggles and stricter state control.

Exposure to freer foreign cultures during extended stays abroad due to Covid-19 restrictions may have also been one of the reasons for the rise in defections. “This high-level defection adds insult to injury for North Korea, as Ri was instrumental in representing Pyongyang’s interests in Havana,” Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul told Reuters. Easley suggested that while North Korea may implement stricter measures to prevent further defections, such actions could further isolate the regime and potentially encourage more defections.

Noteworthy defections in recent years include Tae Yongho, a minister at the North Korean Embassy in London, who defected in 2016 and was later elected to South Korea’s parliament. Similarly, in 2019, Jo Song Gil, North Korea’s acting ambassador to Italy, and the acting ambassador to Kuwait also defected to South Korea.

Tensions in Korea have been at an all-time high, with North Korea launching balloons filled with trash into South Korea and continuing missile tests. In response to South Korean activists sending political leaflets via balloons, North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s sister, issued warnings of “gruesome” consequences. Meanwhile, South Korea has suspended a 2018 tension-reduction deal in response to North Korea’s balloon activities.

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