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A harsh fate for a North Korean defector

Published: 06 May. 2024, 20:10

Chang Se-jeong
The author is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo.

Ryu Hyun-woo, a 51-year-old North Korean who defected to South Korea in September 2019, was the North’s acting ambassador to Kuwait. After studying Arabic at Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies, Ryu joined the Foreign Ministry and worked for nearly 20 years. He is the son-in-law of Jon Il-chun, former deputy director of the Workers’ Party’s Finance and Accounting Department, who was nicknamed the “safe keeper of the Kim family.” Ryu defected to the South with his wife and daughter, but other family members were not able to join him.

In addition to the pain of separation and displacement, Ryu experienced extreme mental stress during the Moon Jae-in presidency. He blamed himself many times, wondering why he had decided to come to the South. But why would an elite diplomat, who had risked his life to defect to the South, resent the country?

His motivations were surprising. The North Korean embassy in Kuwait had to move to a cheaper location to save money as part of the Foreign Ministry’s efforts to downsize its diplomatic missions abroad. During the relocation process, portraits of the late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong-il went missing. After being summoned to Pyongyang for the incident, he decided to defect.

He browsed South Korean YouTube channels in preparation. A video about a former defector who had come to the South in 2000 while working as a trade attaché at the North Korean embassy in Thailand, was a great help. “If you go to South Korea, they will allow you to work according to your capabilities,” the former defector said in the video. It moved Ryu’s heart.

But after arriving in the South in September 2019, Ryu was in shock for a while. After three months of joint interrogation from intelligence authorities, he was released directly into society without spending even three months in Hanawon, an institution that helps North Korean defectors assimilate into the South.

Ryu and his family were assigned a 253-square-foot apartment and a police officer visited them once. That’s all. As Jon’s son-in-law, Ryu could’ve received security measures against possible terrorist attacks, but none materialized. The family received the resettlement subsidy required by law, but the money disappeared quickly as they had no jobs, and they could not make ends meet after rent and utility bills. Starting in February 2020, the family received a basic allowance for the poor, which was 1.1 million won ($808) per month at the time.

A generous church offered donations, but Ryu needed a way to feed his family. Jo Song-gil, North Korea’s acting ambassador to Italy who defected to the South in 2000, reportedly suffered similar hardships under the Moon administration. Ryu was told that a deliveryperson would earn good money during the Covid-19 pandemic, but he gave up on landing such a job due to the difficulty of securing a type 1 driver’s license.

Just a month after South Korean media first reported his defection in January 2021, Ryu booked an interview with CNN. “Because Kim Jong-un believes nuclear weapons are the key for survival, North Korea will never denuclearize,” he said, creating a stir. The Moon administration, which had kept a low profile toward the North, was apparently jolted by Ryu’s comments. A government worker, when the top spy agency was headed by Park Jie-won, proposed collaboration with Ryu. The defector rejected the offer, saying, “I won’t do anything with the Moon administration.” Ryu said he was enraged because the government had secretly repatriated two young North Korean fishermen who had escaped to the South and because the government had distorted facts after North Korea killed a South Korean fisheries official.

Ryu’s family lived on its basic allowance for over two and a half years until the summer of 2022, after President Yoon Suk Yeol took office, . After the administration change, he was able to work on projects at a state-run research institute and barely make ends meet. “I hope that more than 34,000 defectors can contribute to South Korea by utilizing their talents and capabilities,” he said.

Defense Minister Shin Won-sik has ordered the South Korean military to respond to North Korea’s provocations immediately and strongly. How about using former North Korean elites like Ryu to promote the morale and discipline of our soldiers? They will be the best assets to accurately tell the truth of the cruel regime in Pyongyang and convince the soldiers that they should defend our liberal democracy.