Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the Korean Workers' Party. [Newsis]
Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the Korean Workers' Party. [Newsis]

A former North Korean diplomat who defected has exposed the sense of entitlement among the country's elite.

On Saturday, Ri Il-gyu, a former counselor at North Korea's embassy in Cuba, appeared on the YouTube channel "Bukhaneseo on Seo Hyeon-gyeong" and described an encounter with Kim Yo-jong, director of the Korean Workers' Party General Affairs Department, in Pyongyang in 2018.

"Kim Yo-jong did not speak to me," Ri said. "She must have thought of herself as a 'princess,' so there was no way she would exchange words with a lowly person like me." Ri added having no desire to initiate conversation either. "The only supreme authority I needed to deal with was Kim Jong-un," Ri said. "Those below him were simply not on my level, and I felt no need to engage with them."

Ri also spoke about the reality facing North Korean diplomats, saying they tend to avoid their official duties for the state while throwing themselves into work that brings personal financial gain. "North Korean diplomats generally hate doing the official work they are supposed to do for the state, but when it comes to making money on the side, they work tirelessly — not even noticing it's two or three in the morning," Ri said.

Ri said the practice of smuggling goods through diplomatic pouches was a particular source of humiliation. Under the Vienna Convention, diplomatic pouches containing official documents are exempt from customs inspection, with only the seal checked. North Korean diplomats exploit this loophole by stuffing contraband into the pouches, Ri said.

"The most wretched moments as a diplomat are when you cross a border with smuggled goods hidden in a diplomatic pouch and tourists or local customs officers give your luggage a suspicious look," Ri said.


123@heraldcorp.com