▲ This photo, provided by the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council (PUAC) on Aug. 27, 2024, shows Ri Il-gyu, a former counselor of political affairs at the North Korean Embassy in Cuba, delivering a special lecture at the secretariat of the PUAC in Seoul. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

former NK diplomat-lecture

More than half of N. Koreans experience capitalism: former N. Korean diplomat

SEOUL, Aug. 27 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been imposing a reign of terror as more than half of ordinary North Korean people have experienced capitalism through an inflow of outside information, a former North Korean diplomat said Tuesday.

Ri Il-gyu, a former counselor of political affairs at the North Korean Embassy in Cuba, made the remark at a special lecture at the secretariat of the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council.

"More than half of ordinary North Korean people have experienced capitalism. That's why Kim Jong-un has started a reign of terror," Ri said.

The former diplomat said the elite group in North Korea had already begun feeling disillusioned with the regime under the rule of Kim Jong-il, late father of the current leader.

Kim Jong-un took power in late 2011 after his father died of heart failure.

With his family, Ri, known as a seasoned North Korean diplomat in charge of Cuban affairs, defected to South Korea in November last year.

His defection came under the spotlight as it came amid intense efforts by South Korea to establish a diplomatic relationship with Cuba. In February, the two countries forged formal ties in a surprise decision widely seen as a setback for North Korea, which has long boasted of its brotherly relations with Havana.

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