Defector’s testimony offers ‘sickening’ glimpse of North Korea’s violent purges

Ex-diplomat Ri Il-kyu’s claims about a colleague being executed for spying for the US should be taken with a ‘pinch of salt’, analysts say

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The North Korean flag. Ri Il-kyu, a former high-ranking diplomat tasked by Pyongyang with preventing Cuba from establishing diplomatic ties with Seoul, defected in November. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 10:00am, 17 Jul 2024Updated: 10:27am, 17 Jul 2024

A former North Korean diplomat’s shocking claims about his time under Kim Jong-un’s regime have emerged – including a “sickening” account of a colleague’s gruesome execution after being accused of spying for the United States.

Ri Il-kyu, a high-ranking defector who fled to South Korea from Cuba last November, offered a chilling glimpse into the brutality of the Kim regime.

In an interview with the South’s Chosun newspaper, the 52-year-old described the firing-squad execution in February 2019 of Han Song-ryol, a former foreign vice-minister in charge of American affairs.

According to Ri, senior foreign ministry officials were forced to witness Han’s violent demise at the Kang Kon Military Academy near Pyongyang. “The scene was so sickening that those who saw the execution were unable to eat for days,” Ri said, adding he was absent as he was preparing to move to Havana.

But an analyst who spoke to This Week in Asia warned such claims from defectors should be taken with a “pinch of salt”, as they are prone to exaggerate accounts to boost their value as informants.

Ri also claimed that in late 2019, a former foreign minister was punished for corruption by being sent to a concentration camp with his family.