Elite defector tells BBC that Kim Jong Un desires Trump again

An individual aware of the state of affairs mentioned Donald Trump’s return to the White Home could be a “once-in-a-lifetime alternative” for North Korea.

Ri Il-gyu is essentially the most high-profile defector to flee North Korea since 2016 and has confronted Kim Jong-un seven occasions.

The previous diplomat who labored in Cuba When he fled to South Korea along with his household in November final 12 monthsHe admitted that he was “trembling with nerves” when he first met Kim Jong-un.

However each time he had a gathering, he discovered that the chief was “smiling and in a superb temper.”

“He typically compliments others and laughs. He looks as if an bizarre individual,” Mr. Li mentioned. However he has little doubt that Kim Jong-un will do no matter it takes to make sure his personal survival, together with killing all 25 million individuals: “He may have been an exquisite man and father, however turning him right into a god turned him right into a horrible individual. exist.

In an hours-long interview with the BBC, Mr Lee supplied a uncommon understanding of what the world’s most secretive and repressive nation hopes to realize.

He mentioned that though talks between Trump and Kim Jong Un collapsed in 2019, North Korea nonetheless views Trump as somebody who can negotiate on its nuclear weapons program.

Trump has beforehand praised his relationship with Kim Jong Un as a key achievement of his presidency. He famously mentioned that two individuals “fell in love” by means of letters. Simply final month, he informed a rally that Kim Jong Un needed him again in workplace: “If you wish to know the reality, I believe he misses me.”

Mr Lee mentioned North Korea hoped to take advantage of such shut private ties to its personal benefit, contradicting Pyongyang’s official assertion final month that it “would not care” who turns into president.

Mr Lee mentioned the nuclear-armed nation would by no means eliminate its weapons and will search a deal to freeze its nuclear program in trade for lifting US sanctions

However he mentioned Pyongyang wouldn’t negotiate in good religion. Agreeing to freeze its nuclear program “could be a tactic, one hundred pc deception,” he mentioned, including that it was a “harmful strategy” that “will solely result in North Korea’s elevated power.”

Eight months after defecting, Ri Il-kyu now lives along with his household within the South Korean capital, Seoul. Accompanied by a police bodyguard and two intelligence officers, he defined his choice to desert the federal government.

Mr Lee mentioned years of corruption, bribes and a scarcity of freedom he confronted had left him in bother, lastly reaching his breaking level when his request to journey to Mexico for surgical procedure for a herniated cervical disc was denied. “I reside in North Korea as one of many richest 1%, nevertheless it’s nonetheless worse than a middle-class household in South Korea.”

Mr Li earned simply $500 (£294) a month as a diplomat in Cuba, so he would illegally promote Cuban cigars in China to earn sufficient cash to help his household.

When he first informed his spouse that he needed to defect, she was so upset that she ended up in hospital with a coronary heart assault. He thereafter saved his plans secret, sharing them along with her and his kids solely six hours earlier than the flight.

He described it as a “life or loss of life gamble.” Bizarre North Koreans discovered to be defecting are sometimes tortured for a number of months after which launched, he mentioned. “However for elites like us, there are solely two outcomes: both imprisonment in a political jail camp or execution by firing squad.”

“The concern and concern had been overwhelming. I may settle for my very own loss of life, however I could not bear the considered my household being dragged into the Gulag,” he mentioned. Though Mr. Li by no means believed in God, as he nervously waited on the airport gate in the course of the night time, he started to wish.

The final recognized high-profile defection to South Korea was that of Tae Yong-ho in 2016. just lately named The brand new chief of the Korean Presidential Unification Advisory Council.

Referring to North Korea’s latest shut ties with Russia, Ri Yong Ho mentioned the conflict in Ukraine was a blessing for Pyongyang. The US and South Korea estimate that North Korea has bought tens of millions of rounds of ammunition to Moscow to help its invasion in trade for meals, gas and probably navy know-how.

Mr Lee mentioned the deal’s most important profit for Pyongyang was the flexibility to proceed creating its nuclear weapons.

He mentioned that by means of the settlement, Russia created a “loophole” in powerful worldwide sanctions on North Korea, permitting North Korea to “freely develop nuclear weapons and missiles and strengthen its defenses whereas bypassing the necessity to ask North Korea for assist.” Elevate sanctions.”

However Mr Lee mentioned Kim understood the connection was short-term and that Russia would possibly sever ties after the conflict. Because of this, Mr. Lee mentioned, Kim Jong Un has not given up on america.

“North Korea understands that its solely option to survive, to eradicate the specter of invasion and to develop its financial system is to normalize relations with america.”

Whereas Russia could have given North Korea short-term reduction from its financial ache, Mr Lee mentioned North Korea’s full border closure through the pandemic “severely broken the nation’s financial system and folks’s lives”.

Mr Lee mentioned that when the border reopened in 2023 and diplomats ready to return, North Korean households requested them to “carry the whole lot you could have, even your used toothbrush, as a result of North Korea has nothing left”.

North Korea’s leaders demand full loyalty from their residents and the slightest dissent can lead to jail time. However Mr Lee mentioned years of hardship had eroded individuals’s loyalty as a result of nobody now anticipated to get something from their “Supreme Chief” Kim Jong Un.

“There isn’t a longer true loyalty to the regime or to Kim Jong Un, it’s a compelled loyalty and one should be loyal or face loss of life,” he mentioned.

The latest modifications have been largely pushed by an inflow of South Korean movies, dramas and music which were smuggled into North Korea the place they’re unlawful to observe and take heed to.

“Individuals do not watch Korean content material as a result of they’ve capitalist beliefs and so they simply need to move the time in a monotonous and bleak life,” Mr. Lee mentioned, however then they begin asking, “Why are Koreans nonetheless alive?” whereas we live Life in a primary world nation and we’re poor”?

However Mr Lee mentioned that whereas South Korean content material was altering North Korea, it could not result in its collapse due to the prevailing management system. “Kim Jong Un is aware of very effectively that loyalty is waning and individuals are evolving, and that is why he is intensifying his reign of terror,” he mentioned.

The federal government has launched legal guidelines to severely punish those that eat and distribute Korean content material. this BBC interviews a defector Final 12 months, he mentioned he witnessed somebody being executed after sharing Korean music and TV reveals.

Mr Lee mentioned North Korea’s choice late final 12 months to desert its decades-old coverage of eventual reunification with South Korea was an try and additional isolate the South Korean individuals.

He described this as Kim Jong Un’s “most evil act” as a result of all North Koreans dream of reunification. He mentioned that whereas North Korea’s previous leaders “stole individuals’s freedom, cash and human rights, Kim Jong Un stole the one factor that they had left: hope.”

Exterior North Korea, Kim Jong Un’s well being has been a supply of concern, with some believing his untimely loss of life may set off the regime’s collapse. Earlier this week, South Korean intelligence companies estimated Kim Jong-un’s weight at 140 kilograms, placing him in danger for heart problems.

However Mr. Lee believes that surveillance and management techniques are actually so refined that Kim Jong-un’s loss of life won’t pose a menace to the authoritarian regime. “One other evil chief will simply take his place,” he mentioned.

It’s broadly speculated Mr. Kim is grooming his little daughterZhu Ai was considered his successor, however Mr Li dismissed the thought.

He mentioned Joo lacked the legitimacy and status to turn out to be North Korea’s chief, particularly because the sacred Paektu bloodline utilized by the Kim household to justify their rule is believed to exist solely among the many males of the household.

Mr. Li mentioned individuals had been initially fascinated by Zhu Ai, however not anymore. They questioned why she took half in missile checks like different kids as an alternative of going to high school and wore luxurious designer garments as an alternative of a faculty uniform.

Mr Lee mentioned the worldwide neighborhood, together with North Korea’s allies China and Russia, should come collectively to “persevere in persuading North Korea to make modifications” relatively than look ahead to Kim to fall unwell or die.

“That is the one factor that may finish the North Korean dictatorship,” he added.

Mr. Li hopes that his defection will encourage his colleagues to not betray themselves however to advertise small modifications inside. He had no lofty ambitions, hoping that North Koreans would be capable to vote or journey, simply that they may select what jobs to do, have sufficient to eat, and be capable to share their opinions freely amongst associates.

However for now, his first precedence is to assist his household adapt to their new life in South Korea and combine their kids into society.

On the finish of our interview, he proposed a state of affairs. “Think about that I give you an journey and inform you that if we succeed, we’ll win a fantastic victory, but when we fail, it is going to imply loss of life.

“You would not agree, would you? Properly, it was a selection I imposed on my household, and so they silently agreed and adopted me,” he mentioned.

“It is a debt I’ve to repay all through my life.”