2024-07-17 03:31:18
The diplomat defected shortly before the establishment of diplomatic relations between Seoul and Havana.
Since 2019, North Korean diplomat Lee Il-gyu has been in charge of political issues at Pyongyang’s embassy in Cuba, and his task was to “impede the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Cuba”, the newspaper “Chosun Daily” reported.
Li defected to South Korea with his wife and children in early November, becoming the highest known North Korean diplomat to defect since 2016, the newspaper said. South Korea’s Ministry of Unification and Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the AFP news agency that they could not confirm the fact of the defection.
Seoul’s Unification Ministry has previously pointed to the rising number of North Korean elite defections, which the ministry said accounted for about ten of the 196 defections in 2023, the highest number in recent years.
About three months after Li’s defection, Seoul and Havana, one of Pyongyang’s oldest allies, announced the establishment of diplomatic relations.
In an exclusive interview with South Korea’s Chosun Daily, Li said he decided to defect after Pyongyang rejected his request to receive treatment for his injury in Mexico, even though he could not receive the necessary treatment in Cuba due to a lack of specialized equipment.
He also claimed that he received an unfair job evaluation after rejecting a high-ranking North Korean official’s demand for a bribe when he visited Pyongyang in August 2019 to discuss a project to open a North Korean restaurant in Cuba.
“Every North Korean thinks about living in South Korea at least once,” Lee said in an interview. “Disappointment with the North Korean regime and the bleak future made me consider defecting,” he added.
He also told the newspaper that North Korea’s former foreign minister Lee Yong-ho and his family were sent to a political prison camp in December 2019 in connection with a bribery case involving the embassy in Beijing.
South Korea’s intelligence service warned in May that Pyongyang was preparing terrorist attacks targeting Seoul officials and citizens abroad. Intelligence said it was likely Pyongyang’s response to a wave of elite North Korean defections. Many North Korean officials were trapped abroad during the pandemic and tried to avoid returning home after border controls were eased.
2024-07-17 03:31:18