SEOUL: Defections Among North Korea’s Elite is a serious sign of crisis for leader Jong-Un Kim as Il-kyu Ri, a former counsellor at the North Korean embassy in Cuba, defected with his family and came to South Korea.
“North Korea will be a bleak society because it will have no future due to the exploitation of labor, unfair assessment, and inflammation of the regime, and I could not allow my children to live in North Korean society,” said Il-kyu Ri.
Another North Korean defector, former head of North Korean overseas trading company, Kim Chul Jin on the development said he was always worried about his children’s future, either when he was in North Korea or when he was on assignment at the Office of the Foreign Trade Representative. He added thinking about a bright future in North Korea is like a dream of catching a rainbow in the sky.
“And the idea of being loyal to the Kim family for the rest of one’s life is a pain that only I can bear, and I want my children to live in a world with no worry where there is no surveillance and control and where they can enjoy freedom,” Kim Chul Jin.
“I decided to defect for the sake of my children’s future thinking the same way as the former counsellor Il-kyu Ri,” he said.
He noted the defection of Il-kyu Ri is likely to give a major psychological blow to the North Korean government, its diplomatic missions and representative offices abroad, its workers serving abroad, and its people inside North Korea.
He said the North Korean government is probably fearful that control and surveillance alone will not stop the people yearning for freedom.
As per reports the defection of former counsellor Il-kyu Ri may be a sign that the collapse of the North Korean regime has already started. It shows that North Korea’s elites, unsure of their future, can turn the guns around whenever they see an opportunity.
Corruption has become a major problem in North Korean society and demanding and paying bribes has become normal.
Kim Chul Jin believes that democratization in North Korea is only a matter of time adding that Jong-un Kim’s regime will continue to implement a policy of fear to eliminate any sense of democratization among the people.
