By Joyce Lee and Ju-min Park
SEOUL (Reuters) -A senior North Korean diplomat based in Cuba defected with his wife and child to South Korea in November, South Korean media reports said on Tuesday, the highest-ranking North Korean diplomat to escape to the South since 2016.
Before fleeing to the South, Ri Il Kyu, 52, was a counsellor at the North Korean embassy in Cuba, he told South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo. Yonhap News Agency also reported Ri had defected to the South, citing an anonymous government source.
The South’s unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, declined to comment on the reports, citing privacy issues.
Among Ri’s jobs at the embassy was to block North Korea’s rival South Korea and old ally Cuba from forging diplomatic ties, Chosun Ilbo reported. In February, the two countries established diplomatic relations.
Ri said he flew out of Cuba with his family but he did not elaborate further on how he pulled off the high-risk escape.
“I bought flight tickets and called my wife and kid to tell them about my decision, six hours before the defection. I didn’t say South Korea, but said, let’s live abroad,” he said.
Another North Korean diplomat stationed in Paris and his family have also been seeking asylum in the United States, South Korean television network TV Chosun reported late on Tuesday, citing multiple sources with knowledge of the matter.
North Koreans caught attempting to defect face severe punishment, including death, according to human rights groups and defectors who have been successful.
Fewer North Korean defectors have been arriving in South Korea in recent years due to strict limits on border crossings into China and hefty broker fees, human rights groups and experts say.
Last year, 196 North Korean defectors came to Seoul, down from as many as 2,700 a decade ago, South Korean government data showed. North Koreans who have recently defected to the South have mostly lived overseas, human rights activists say.
North Korea last year shut some embassies to revamp diplomatic efficiency. The South Korean government has said the closures are a sign that sanctions have made it extremely difficult for North Korean diplomatic missions to earn money for their operating expenses.
North Korea maintains an embassy in Cuba, though its ambassador returned home in March, according to media reports.
DISILLUSIONMENT
Ri entered North Korea’s foreign ministry in 1999 and received a commendation from 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, Chosun said.
He told the newspaper he had decided to defect over disillusionment with the regime and unfair evaluation of his work.
Ri said he made a final decision to run when a request to travel to Mexico for a medical treatment was denied last year, adding that his parents and parents-in-law who might face reprisals for his defection had passed away.
The last such known high-profile defection to the South was that of Tae Yong-ho, a former North Korean deputy ambassador to Britain, in 2016.
“I hope that all former North Korean diplomats will join forces and work hard for the unification movement to realize the dream of North Korean officials and people to have their children live freely in South Korea,” Tae said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
“Welcome, Counsellor Ilkyu!” said Tae, adding that Ri was a former rival in table tennis games at the foreign ministry.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Sunday promised better financial support for North Korean defectors and tax incentives for companies hiring them, as he attended a ceremony for the inaugural North Korean Defectors’ Day.
(Reporting by Joyce LeeAdditional reporting by Hyonhee ShinEditing by Lincoln Feast, Peter Graff)
