The source said Ri Il-kyu, who served as a political affairs counselor at the North Korean embassy in Cuba, arrived in South Korea last November with his family.
The defection came as South Korea was seeking to establish diplomatic relations with Cuba.
In February, the two countries established formal relations in a surprise move widely seen as a setback for North Korea, which has long boasted of its brotherly ties with Cuba, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.
According to the agency, Ri is believed to have been a veteran diplomat who served for about nine years in Cuba.
His latest mission reportedly included preventing Havana from establishing formal diplomatic relations with Seoul, according to an interview published by South Korea’s Hosun Ilbo newspaper.
In the interview, Ri, who was praised by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his time in Cuba, said he made the decision to defect out of frustration and anger over what he called unfair job evaluations at the North Korean foreign ministry and its refusal to grant him medical treatment in Mexico.
Ri is the first known North Korean diplomat to defect to South Korea since North Korea’s acting ambassador to Kuwait, Ryu Hyon-woo, defected to Seoul in September 2019.
#Source #North #Korean #diplomat #defects #South #Korea