Senior North Korean Diplomat Defected To South While In Cuba

A North Korean diplomat based in Cuba defected to South Korea in November, becoming the highest ranking envoy from his country to escape to the south since 2016.

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Without giving details the National Intelligence Service, South Korea’s spy agency, confirmed a report by the Chosun Ilbo newspaper, which said that a diplomat responsible for political affairs at the North Korean embassy in Cuba had defected.

The defector, Ri Il-kyu, had the task of blocking South Korea and Cuba from forging diplomatic ties, the newspaper reported . In February, the two countries established diplomatic relations.

Details of defections from North Korea often take months to come to light, with defectors needing to be cleared by authorities and going through a course of education about South Korean society and systems. Ri had entered North Korea’s foreign ministry in 1999 and received a commendation from the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, for successfully negotiating with Panama to lift the detention of a North Korean ship caught carrying arms from Cuba in 2013, the Chosun said.