The vast majority of refugees who have fled North Korea are typically those who reside in border regions close to China and do not hold important government or economic positions.
Some are from Pyongyang because it is very hard for citizens to traveling within the nation without the consent of police and inside security personnel. In addition, borders patrols are given the ultimatum to eliminate illegal border crossingers along the 38th parallel, which is incredibly challenging to cross because land mines are planted there.
The Foreign Ministry’s only official exception to this is a senior government official who is currently on political leave from the country. One of the biggest security forces attached to each North Korean embassy worldwide is preventing North Korean workers from elude escape.
In the majority of cases, officials ‘ children, families, or other close family members are required to stay in North Korea– nearly as captives to ensure that officials serving abroad may return to Pyongyang. Kids, babies, or sisters who were imprisoned, executed, or often punished while serving in a blog abroad often come out with this story.
The internal security forces of North Korea are severely strained by worries about losing diplomats abroad. Currently, Pyongyang has  , diplomatic missions , in 46 countries and international organizations, a decline from 53 diplomatic posts in 2022. By comparison, South Korea maintains 166 resident embassies, consulates, and permanent missions, all significantly larger than North Korean posts in the same locations.
Ri Il Gyu, a most recent defector, previously held a very senior political position at the North Korean embassy in Havana, Cuba.
In late November of that year, he left the embassy. His presence in Seoul was only made public on July 16 of this year when an interview with him , was published.
Kim Jong Un’s blame game
His defection came just a few weeks before Cuba and South Korea established , full diplomatic relations , in February of this year.
The Cuban government’s decision to establish diplomatic ties with South Korea was a blow to the North Korean leadership, since Pyongyang and Havana have a close relationship largely due to both nations ‘ strong hostility toward the United States.
Kim Jong Un is most likely to have sought the services of a North Korean embassy official now that diplomatic relations have been established between Seoul and Havana.
Ri may have been aware of South Korea’s efforts to establish diplomatic relations with Cuba last November, despite he has n’t said that. That diplomatic move might have had serious effects on him and his family. Before the public announcement, Ri and Ri made arrangements to move to Seoul and leave Havana.
Ri Il Gyu gave important information to North Korean diplomats who were fired from office” with extreme prejudice” after his defection was made public in press interviews because Kim Jong-un was unhappy and attributed the failure of the second US-North Korea summit in Hanoi in February 2019.
Ri Il Gyu claimed that Ri Yong Ho, a former foreign minister from 2016 to 2019, was detained in a prison camp in December 2019 on suspicion of accepting bribes from a Chinese diplomat. However, Ri Il Gyu claimed that Ri Yong Ho’s real” crime” was that he was the most senior official held accountable for the defunct Hanoi Summit. Ri Yong Ho’s execution was reported in a Japanese newspaper.
Han Song Ryol’s firing squad execution
Additionally, Ri Il Gyu spoke about the firing squad’s February 2019 execution of Deputy Foreign Minister Han Song Ryol, which occurred shortly before the Hanoi Summit.
Han was previously the second-highest North Korean diplomat at the UN’s ( UN) in New York City, and he was appointed vice minister of foreign affairs for US issues when he returned to Pyongyang in 2013.
Han was executed at the military academy on the outskirts of Pyongyang for allegedly being a spy for the United States.
Officials from the Foreign Ministry had to show up. Ri Il Gyu said,” For days, those who watched it could hardly eat anything”.
Ri Il Gyu was not present at the execution, but he had first-hand knowledge from those who knew about his plans to leave North Korea and take up his position in Havana.
Other senior diplomats and the danger they pose to their families
Counselor Ri Il Gyu follows a number of other senior officials who have slipped away, even though this is the most recent instance of a senior North Korean diplomat defecting while serving abroad.
Thae Yong Ho, a member of the North Korean Foreign Ministry who served as second-in-charge of the North Korean embassy in London, is the highest-ranking diplomat who eluded North Korea while serving abroad. He and his family escaped from their London home in 2016 with South Korean assistance, and they successfully relocated to Seoul.
Thae was immediately given a lot of attention as the most senior North Korean official escape, and he was quite willing to speak out and take part in public events, despite the fact that the majority of senior North Korean refugees have lived quietly in South Korea. In 2020, he was  , elected to the South Korean National Assembly , under the United Future Party for the affluent Seoul district of Gangnam, serving as an engaged , member of the National Assembly.
Although Thae was unsuccessful in his campaign for reelection to the National Assembly during this year’s legislative election, he was subsequently , named  , secretary general of the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council, a post that holds the rank of vice minister. Thae is the , first North Korean refugee , to hold this senior ranking in the South Korean government.
Ji Seong-ho, who is also a refugee from North Korea but not a North Korean diplomat, also served as a member of the National Assembly from 2020 to 2024. He was chosen from the party’s slate despite not having a particular constituency in mind.
Other senior diplomats have also left South Korea. In September 2019, North Korea’s chargé d’affaires ( acting ambassador ) to Kuwait, Ryu Hyun Woo, went to the South Korean embassy in Kuwait and , requested asylum. Although he and his family left Kuwait in 2019 and resettled in South Korea soon after, his presence in South Korea was not officially , made public , until January 2021.
Kuwait is significant to North Korea because there are about 10,000 North Korean laborers in Kuwait, which accounts for the third-highest number of workers there. Kuwait is the only country with more North Korean workers than China and Russia. The North Korean government expropriates the majority of their pay, the workers are poorly paid, live in harsh conditions, and have a poor pay.
In November 2018, North Korea’s chargé d’affaires in Italy, Jo Song Gil, and his wife , disappeared , with no indication of their whereabouts. This occurred just before the Pyongyang authorities were scheduled to go back. A member of the South Korean National Assembly stated in October 2020 that Jo and his wife have been in South Korea since July 2019 and are protected by the South Korean government.
Jo’s defection emphasizes the dangers and risks of confronting the Pyongyang regime’s brutality, particularly in light of how diplomats and their families are treated. The North Korean Embassy notified the Italian Foreign Ministry on November 10, 2018, that the ambassador and his wife had left the embassy, according to a statement from the Italian Foreign Ministry.
After Jo “requested to be reunited with her grandparents,” the ministry was informed that Jo’s daughter had returned to North Korea, accompanied by female employees from the North Korean embassy.
For the benefit of Jo’s family members who reside in North Korea, neither Seoul nor Rome made this information public for more than a year. There is no information about his daughter’s whereabouts or the health of the family members who are still living in North Korea.
There may be others
The South Korean government has a tendency to keep information about the defection of senior diplomats very secret out of concern for the families of those who are still living there and the brutality the Kim regime has committed against people based on their actions.
After his election to the National Assembly in 2020, Thae , expressed concern , about keeping information confidential:” For diplomats who have family members living in North Korea, to reveal their news ]of defection ] is a sensitive matter. That’s why other former North Korean diplomats are residing in South Korea without disclosing their identities, and the South Korean government does n’t either.
Everyone is seen as a potential existential threat, from regular citizens to formerly favored regime elites, according to the plight of senior North Korean defectors and their relatives back home in North Korea. In such a context, human rights abuses are ubiquitous.
Robert R. King is a Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI ) non-resident distinguished fellow. He served as the former US special representative for human rights in North Korea from 2009 to 2017.
This article was originally published by KEI’s The Peninsula. It is republished with permission.