The defections are an indication of the severe economic and living conditions in the isolated nation.
Ri Il Gyu, a former senior North Korean diplomat based in Cuba who defected to South Korea in 2023, during an interview at the Reuters bureau in Seoul on July 31, 2024.
“North Korean diplomats, other officials and students based overseas were told to return last year as the pandemic situation entered a new phase,” an official said. It was the second defection in 12 days, after a North Korean civilian crossed the western maritime border near Incheon city on foot during low tide on Aug 8.
“The Kim regime failed to revive North Korea’s economy, and so its citizens are challenged with food security as well as health security,” he told The Straits Times, referring to the government of leader Kim Jong Un. While Pyongyang had thanked Moscow for its offer of assistance without explicit acceptance of the aid, Mr Kim rebuffed Seoul’s offer, saying that “an enemy remains an enemy”.
Dr Bong Young-shik, from the Institute for North Korean Studies at Yonsei University in Seoul, said this sudden ideological shift could have precipitated the defections of the North Korean elites. In November 2023, Mr Ri Il-gyu, a former political counsellor at the North Korean embassy in Cuba, defected to South Korea, the highest level of defection from the North since 2016. That was the year when Mr Tae Yong-ho, North Korea’s deputy ambassador to the UK at the time, fled to South Korea.
“After arriving in South Korea, I realised that the great risk of defection was completely worth it. I feel a deep sense of sorrow and miss my colleagues. North Korea has no future. I hope they find the courage to leave that land of darkness and step into the light,” Mr Ri told Chosun Ilbo newspaper.Senior North Korean diplomat defected to South Korea from Cuba, reports say
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