Former North Korean diplomat Ri Il-gyu speaks with The Sankei Shimbun at Ryukoku University in Kyoto. (©Masako Nagato by Sankei Shimbun)
"In a society saturated with immorality and injustice, life becomes unbearable," said Ri Il-gyu, a former counselor at the North Korean embassy in Cuba who defected to South Korea in November 2023, explaining his decision to flee.
Although Ri was an elite official with a promising career — once commended by Kim Jong Un for resolving diplomatic disputes — his salary was too modest. That reality forced him into illegal activities, such as smuggling, to make ends meet.
Ri spoke to The Sankei Shimbun during a visit to Japan before his memoir, The Kim Jong Un I Saw (Sankei Shimbun Publications), hits bookstore shelves on October 7.
In the interview, the former counselor recalled meeting a "Japanese female operative" in Cuba. He also discussed North Korea's policies toward Japan, including the abductions issue.
Excerpt follows.
Escape from the North
Can you tell us about your escape?
North Korea has chosen a path that invites condemnation from the international community. Each time the country violated United Nations Security Council resolutions, through nuclear tests, missile launches, and other provocations, the diplomatic environment grew increasingly hostile.
To cope, we even worked on weekends. Yet our monthly salary was only about $500 USD, and the funds needed to sustain our mission never arrived from Pyongyang. I was therefore forced to smuggle Cuban cigars. It was humiliating.
If we had been paid fairly, who would sacrifice their dignity in such a way? North Korean diplomats are nothing more than "Kotjebi (street urchins) in ties." With no fair compensation, corruption and power struggles flourished. I grew utterly disgusted with the regime.
How did you and your family manage to defect?
Failure meant death. I told my wife and daughter about the plan only six hours before the operation.
I had booked a flight leaving Cuba early in the morning, but the hour between finishing departure procedures and boarding felt like years. What seemed like ten minutes was in fact only one. I must have checked my watch a hundred times. Anxiety burned in my throat.
After landing in a third country, I called the South Korean embassy and applied for asylum at immigration. However, the authorities there refused our request. "We cannot accept your asylum application," they said, and attempted to put us back on the plane. If we had followed our original travel route, we would have been sent straight back to North Korea.
Amid frantic negotiations, the South Korean ambassador appeared. At that moment, I felt a profound relief. We're going to live, I thought.
Your memoir states that you met a 'Japanese operative' for North Korea in Havana, Cuba. Can you elaborate?
I believe it was around 1993. My father was stationed in Cuba with an organization under the United Front Department, and I was studying at a Cuban university. One day, my father asked me to deliver a check to a "North Korean woman" living in Havana.
She was with two boys in their early teens, but she alone spoke an unnatural Korean. That made me suspicious. Later, when I asked my mother, she said, "This is absolutely confidential, but she's someone from Japan."
North Korea keeps the children of operatives abroad, raising them to become future agents. The Japanese woman I met was responsible for the boys' daily care. I later saw her working at a Japanese-only store in Pyongyang, alongside other Japanese women.
Author's note: Lee was shown photographs of Japanese abduction victims as well as the wife of a suspect in the Yodogo (Japan Air Lines Flight 351) hijacking incident. When presented with a photo of Sakiko Wakabayashi, the wife of a Yodogo hijacker wanted internationally for abducting Japanese citizens in Europe, Lee testified, "This is definitely her."
Revisiting the Abductions Issue
Did you hear anything about the Japanese abductions issue?
I wasn't aware of it back in 1993. Yet after joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and being assigned to the Radio Section of the Bureau of Intelligence and Translation, I became well-acquainted with it.
The Radio Section had two main tasks. One was monitoring Voice of America (a US government–affiliated broadcaster) to gauge international opinion on nuclear issues. The other was monitoring NHK to understand Japanese public opinion on the abductions issue.
In 2002, then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited North Korea.
At the time, it wasn't only the Japanese Affairs Division of the Foreign Ministry that treated the abductions issue as urgent. General Secretary Kim Jong-il himself also insisted it had to be absolutely resolved. He called then-First Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok-ju almost daily to check on progress.
Kim believed Japan was the only neighboring country capable of providing meaningful assistance. China's policy was to neither fully support nor completely isolate the North, while Russia and South Korea lacked the economic capacity to help.
After Koizumi's first visit to North Korea, rumors circulated that Japan might provide $30 billion USD in economic aid. In the end, nothing came of it. During Prime Minister Koizumi's second visit, Kim Jong-il brusquely dismissed him, saying, "Don't put anything on the table. Don't even bring water."
As for the abduction victims, I know nothing, as it was not my responsibility.
It has been more than 20 years since the last Japan–North Korea summit. Does Kim Jong Un want to resolve the abductions issue?
When I saw Kim Jong Un send a telegram to Japan last year [2024] following the Noto Peninsula earthquake, I sensed that he was determined to resolve the issue. That he was prepared to act. At the same time, though, North Korea learned from Koizumi's visit that moving Japan was no easy task.
The United States stands between Japan and North Korea. To move Japan, one must first move Washington. For Pyongyang, the relationship with the US is paramount. Unless that relationship either completely collapses or fully improves, Japan–North Korea ties will remain stagnant.
North Korea seeks to extract maximum benefit from the abductions issue — it feels it has no choice. For now, the regime is likely driving up the price and waiting for the right moment.
The Fate of Kim's Regime
Is economic aid still the greatest source of leverage?
There is a clear difference between Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong Un. Kim Jong-il valued tangible benefits such as economic assistance. Kim Jong Un, by contrast, places greater importance on his political standing and image than on material gains.
During the US–North Korea summit, Kim sought to project himself as a "strong leader who has tamed the United States." A "world leader."
Kim appears to be watching closely to see whether Japan will prioritize North Korea over South Korea, with the broader goal of normalizing diplomatic relations. As for South Korea, he seems intent on pushing it aside.
North Korea has cooperated with Russia in the Ukraine war. What has this war brought to North Korea?
It has benefited North Korea in three ways: politically, economically, and militarily. The most important gain is political. Russia is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and with its veto power, additional sanctions cannot be imposed, no matter what Kim Jong Un does. This has effectively neutralized international sanctions against the North.
Militarily, however, it is unlikely that [Russia's] support extends to strategic weapons such as nuclear arms. Moscow's interest does not appear to go that far.
Does the North Korean regime have a future?
For 80 years, the country has muddled through, patching holes as they appeared. The privileged class works to preserve its status and livelihood, so the regime will not collapse easily. But the longer this continues, the more the people suffer.
I hope Kim Jong Un will ease the burden on his people. And I hope he changes the mindset that treats his people less than dirt, as shown in, for instance, public executions.
About Ri Il-gyu
Born in Pyongyang in 1972, Ri spent eight years in Algeria and Cuba, accompanying his father on overseas assignments. He graduated from Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies. From 2011 to 2016, he served as Third Secretary at the Embassy of North Korea in Cuba. During that time, he played a key role in securing the release of crew members during the detention of the North Korean-flagged vessel Chong Chon Gang in Panama. He was awarded the "Kim Jong Un Commendation" for his efforts.
After holding positions including Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Bureau of African, Arab, and Latin American Affairs, Ri became Counselor at the North Korean Embassy in Cuba in 2019. He defected from Cuba to South Korea in November 2023. His latest memoir, expected to be released in October, details the realities of North Korean diplomats and offers behind-the-scenes stories of negotiations with Japan.
Related:
- INTERVIEW | Diplomat Tae Young-ho Brings New Insights to Abductions Issue
- North Korean Abductions: 'Dialogue' and Hope In Focus at National Rally
- Expert Explains North Korea's Fiery Comeback from Isolation
Author: Masako Nagato, Deputy Editorial Director of The Sankei Shimbun
(Read this in Japanese)
