Former North Korean Deputy Ambassador to Cuba, Ri Il Kyu, who defected to South Korea in November last year, made shocking revelations about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. According to Ri Il Kyu, Kim Jong Un frequently blushes and resembles a Native American from the Americas. Despite some level of personal worship among the North Korean people, Ri Il Kyu described Kim Jong Un as just a “ordinary person”.
52-year-old Ri Il Kyu, who worked in Cuba for 9 years and speaks Spanish, claimed to have been recognized by Kim Jong Un and even had meetings with him at tea parties.
Ri Il Kyu publicly stated that his defection to South Korea was due to his disillusionment with the Kim Jong Un regime and the possibility of facing a “bleak future”.
As reported by the British newspaper “The Times”, Ri Il Kyu said that despite the personal worship of Kim Jong Un by the North Korean people, “on a personal level, Kim Jong Un is just an ordinary person”.
He said, “Upon closer inspection, you can’t help but feel that his blood pressure must be very high. His face is always red as if he had been drinking, even redder than on the (TV) screen. He looks almost like a Native American from the Americas.”
Ri Il Kyu revealed that Kim Jong Un is proud of his daughter Kim Ju Ae and often takes her out with him. Her age is believed to be between 10 and 12 years old, and many North Koreans do not like her.
He mentioned that, when Kim Ju Ae was still a child, whenever Kim Jong Un was in a good mood, he would take her out. Her first public appearance was quite interesting, but as she started appearing in official events like military parades, the situation became increasingly uncomfortable.
Ri Il Kyu expressed his distress at the thought of his child having to “bow down to that little girl” after experiencing various humiliations from “those people”. He believes that many North Koreans “may also have similar feelings”.
He said that every North Korean has “considered living in South Korea at least once”, and he himself started to abandon his fantasies about the Kim dynasty after being denied permission to seek treatment in Mexico due to a back problem.
North Korean defectors who defect to South Korea often undergo months of interrogation by South Korean authorities to ensure they are not spies. Ri Il Kyu likely possesses valuable information about the North Korean regime, such as confirming that former North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho was sent to a labor camp along with his family on corruption charges.
Ri Il Kyu fled Cuba with his wife and children in November last year to seek asylum in South Korea, becoming the highest-ranking North Korean diplomat to defect since 2016. He recently gave an interview to the South Korean newspaper “Chosun Ilbo” revealing the truth about his defection.
Prior to Ri Il Kyu’s defection, in July 2016, Tae Yong Ho, the number two official at the North Korean embassy in London, defected to South Korea with his family. Tae Yong Ho was the highest-ranking North Korean diplomat to defect before July 2016. In 2020, he was elected as a member of the South Korean National Assembly.