Donald Trump’s return to the White House would be seen as a “once-in-a-thousand-year opportunity” for North Korea, a former North Korean diplomat has told the BBC.
Ri Il Kyu, the highest-ranking defector to escape North Korea since 2016, has had seven meetings with Kim Jong Un.
Ri, who fled to South Korea with his family last November while working in Cuba, said he was “shaking with nerves” the first time he met the North Korean leader.
However, he describes Kim Jong Un as “smiling and in good spirits” after each meeting.
“He would often compliment people and laugh. He seemed like an ordinary person,” says Ri.
Despite his friendly appearance, Ri believes that Kim Jong Un would do anything to ensure his survival, including exterminating his own people if necessary.
“He could have been a wonderful person and father, but turning him into a god made him a monstrous being,” says Ri.
In a lengthy interview with the BBC, Ri provided rare insight into the aims of one of the world’s most secretive and repressive regimes.
He says North Korea still sees former US president and presidential candidate Donald Trump as a potential negotiator for its nuclear weapons program, despite the failure of talks in 2019.
Trump has previously described his relationship with Kim Jong Un as a key achievement of his presidency and said the two “fell in love” while exchanging letters.
At a recent rally, Trump said Kim Jong Un would like to see him back in office, saying, “I think he misses me, if you want to know the truth.”
According to Ri, North Korea intends to use this personal relationship to its advantage, despite Pyongyang’s official statement last month that it did not care about the outcome of the US election.
Ri believes North Korea will never give up its nuclear weapons and will likely seek a deal to freeze its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of U.S. sanctions.
However, he warns that Pyongyang would not negotiate in good faith and that any agreement to freeze the nuclear program would be a “deceptive maneuver” that would only strengthen the North Korean regime.
A ‘life or death gamble’
Eight months after defecting, Ri Il Kyu lives with his family in South Korea, under the protection of a police bodyguard and two intelligence agents. He shares the reasons that led him to abandon his government.
After years of facing corruption, bribery and lack of freedom, Ri reached his breaking point when his request to travel to Mexico for surgery on a herniated disc in his neck was denied.
“I lived as the richest 1% in North Korea, but that is still worse than a middle-class family in the South,” he says.
As a diplomat in Cuba, Ri earned just $500 a month and had to sell Cuban cigars illegally in China to support his family.
When he revealed his desire to desert to his wife, she was so shaken that she had to be hospitalized with heart problems.
After that, he kept his plans secret and only informed his wife and son about his decision to leave six hours before boarding.
Ri describes defection as a “life-or-death gamble.” He explains that ordinary North Koreans caught defecting are usually tortured for a few months and then released, but for elites like him, there are only two possible fates: life in a political prison camp or execution by firing squad.
“The fear and terror were overwhelming. I could accept my own death, but I couldn’t bear the thought of my family being sent to a gulag,” he says.
Although Ri never believed in God, while waiting at the airport gate in the middle of the night, he began to pray.
The last known high-profile defection to South Korea was that of Tae Yong-ho in 2016. A former deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom, Tae was recently named the new leader of South Korea’s presidential advisory council for unification.
Regarding the recent rapprochement between North Korea and Russia, Ri Il Kyu says that the war in Ukraine was a great opportunity for Pyongyang.
According to US and South Korean estimates, North Korea sold millions of rounds of ammunition to Moscow to support the invasion, in exchange for food, fuel and possibly even military technology.
Ri highlights that the main benefit of this agreement for Pyongyang was the possibility of continuing to develop its nuclear weapons.
Russia has created a “loophole” in strict international sanctions against North Korea, allowing the country to freely develop its nuclear weapons and missiles, as well as strengthen its defense, without having to request relief from US sanctions.
However, Ri believes that Kim Jong Un sees this relationship as temporary and that after the war ends, Russia will likely cut ties with North Korea.
That’s why Kim is still seeking to normalize relations with the United States. “North Korea understands that the only way to ensure its survival, eliminate the threat of invasion and develop its economy is to establish normal relations with the United States,” Ri said.
While Russia may have provided temporary economic relief to North Korea, Ri notes that the total border closures during the pandemic “severely devastated the country’s economy and people’s lives.”
When borders reopened in 2023 and diplomats were preparing to return, Ri says acquaintances in North Korea asked them to bring anything they could, even used personal items, because “there was nothing left” in the country.
Ri also notes that while the North Korean leader demands total loyalty from his citizens, the slightest suspicion of dissent can result in arrest.
However, he believes that years of hardship have undermined the genuine loyalty of the people, who do not expect anything from their “Supreme Leader” Kim Jong Un.
“There is no longer genuine loyalty to the regime or Kim Jong Un; it is a forced loyalty, where one must be loyal or face death,” Ri concludes.
The ‘most evil act’
Recent changes in North Korea have been largely driven by the smuggling of South Korean films, dramas and music, which are considered illegal in the country.
According to Ri Il Kyu, people do not consume such content for capitalist reasons, but to escape the monotony and gloom of their lives.
However, after accessing these materials, many begin to question why people in the South live in a first world country while they remain impoverished.
While South Korean content is bringing about change in North Korea, Ri believes it does not have the potential to topple Kim Jong Un’s government due to the strict control systems in place.
“Kim Jong Un is aware that loyalty is waning and people are becoming more critical. That is why he is stepping up his terror regime,” Ri said.
The North Korean government has introduced strict laws to punish those who consume or distribute South Korean content.
Ri mentions that last year he spoke to a defector who witnessed someone being executed for sharing South Korean music and TV shows.
In addition, North Korea’s decision late last year to abandon a long-standing policy of reunification with the South is seen as an attempt to further isolate the South’s population, Ri says.
He calls this decision Kim Jong Un’s “most evil act,” arguing that while previous leaders “robbed people of their freedom, money, and human rights,” Kim Jong Un took away what was left: hope.
Outside of North Korea, Kim Jong Un’s health has received much attention, with some believing that an early death could trigger the collapse of the regime. South Korea’s intelligence agency recently estimated that Kim weighs 140 kilograms, putting him at risk of cardiovascular disease.
However, Ri believes that North Korea’s surveillance and control system is now so entrenched that Kim’s death poses no threat to the dictatorship. “Another evil leader will simply take his place,” he concludes.
There is speculation that Kim Jong Un is grooming his daughter, Ju Ae, to succeed him, but Ri Il Kyu dismisses this possibility.
According to Ri, Ju Ae does not have the legitimacy or popularity needed to become the leader of North Korea, mainly because the sacred Paektu bloodline, which the Kim family uses to justify its rule, is considered exclusively male.
Initially, Ju Ae aroused people’s curiosity, but that has changed. Ri says North Koreans have begun to question her participation in missile tests instead of attending school, and her wearing fancy clothes instead of a school uniform like other children.
Ri believes that rather than waiting for Kim Jong Un to get sick or die, the international community, including North Korea’s allies China and Russia, should come together to “persistently persuade him to change.”
He claims this is the only way to end the North Korean dictatorship.
Ri hopes his defection will inspire others to push for internal change rather than defect.
While he has no grand ambitions, such as the right to vote or freedom to travel, he wants North Koreans to be able to choose their jobs, have enough food and share their opinions freely with friends.
Right now, her priority is to help her family settle in South Korea and integrate her son into society.
At the end of the interview, Ri describes his situation: “Imagine I offered you an opportunity with great rewards if you succeed, but with the certainty of death if you fail. Would you accept? Well, that was the choice I imposed on my family, and they silently agreed to follow me,” he says. “Now, this is a debt I must pay for the rest of my life.”
By Jean Mackenzie / Additional reporting by Jake Kwon and Hosu Lee.
2024-08-03 23:34:46