A senior North Korean diplomat stationed in Cuba, Ri Il-kyu, fled to South Korea with his wife and child back in November 2023.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service confirmed the incident, which marks the highest-ranking North Korean diplomat to escape since 2016.

Ri was reportedly a 52-year-old counselor working at the North Korean Embassy who had defected due to disillusionment with North Korea’s political system, an unfair job evaluation by Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry and the ministry’s disapproval of his hopes to visit Mexico to treat his neural damage.

The South’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper described that Ri’s work involved stopping Havana from forging official diplomatic ties with Seoul, though the two governments eventually established official relations in February 2024.

According to the news agency, Ri joined North Korea’s foreign ministry in 1999 and received a commendation from Kim Jong-un for successfully negotiating with Panama to secure the release of a North Korean ship caught carrying arms from Cuba in 2013.

South Korea has imposed sanctions on a Hong Kong shipping company, HK Yilin Shipping Co., and a North Korean cargo ship for engaging in an illegal transfer of North Korean coal in March in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

According to Seoul’s foreign ministry, any entity planning to engage in financial transactions with the shipping company must obtain authorization from South Korea’s financial watchdog and its central bank. Sanctioned vessels are also unable to enter South Korea without receiving permission.

The ministry described that its sanctions demonstrated the government’s “strong will to end North Korea’s illegal nuclear and missile development by blocking its illegal maritime activities.”

Under United Nations sanctions, maritime transshipment with North Korean vessels and the export of North Korean coal are prohibited.

South Korea’s military conducted a loudspeaker broadcast campaign against North Korea in response to the “despicable, shameful and vulgar” launch of balloons by Pyongyang carrying trash across the border.

Previous broadcasts included K-pop songs, weather forecasts, news on Samsung and criticisms of North Korea’s missile program and its crackdown on foreign videos.

Given the North fired artillery rounds across the border when the South restarted loudspeaker broadcasts for the first time in 11 years back in 2015, South Korean military is now on alert for possible reactions by North Korea.

Meanwhile, South Korea denounced the North for floating trash balloons in its seventh such balloon campaign in recent months.

Tae Yong-ho, a former minister of the North Korean Embassy in London who had defected to South Korea in 2016, was recently appointed as a vice minister in South Korea.

After Tae’s defection to the South, North Korea called him “human scum” and accused him of embezzling government money and committing other crimes.

This new appointment marks the highest-level government job for any North Korean defector who has resettled in the South.

As the new head of the unification council, Tae will be advising on peaceful Korean unification as he is able to utilize his experience living in North Korea and work experiences as a member of South Korea’s parliament’s committee.