Two months after the former acting ambassador to Italy, Cho Sung-gil, defected to South Korea, the former acting ambassador to Kuwait also ran away with his Family to South Korea. The picture shows the barbed wire fence along the border between North and South Korea.
Under the authoritarian rule of leader Kim Jong-un, people in North Korea are living in poverty and fear, and executions are common, so many people are trying to get out of the country. According to South Korean media reports, sources have revealed that two months after North Korea’s former acting ambassador to Italy, Jo Song-gil, defected to South Korea, the country’s former acting ambassador to Kuwait, Ryu Hyun-woo, also took his family with him to South Korea, suspected to have taken the risk for the sake of his children’s future.
According to a report by Yonhap News Agency, Seo Chang Sik, then North Korea’s ambassador to Kuwait, was expelled from the country immediately after the UN Security Council adopted sanctions against North Korea in September 2017, and Ryu Hyun-woo, who was acting as ambassador, defected to South Korea with his family in September 2019. The diplomatic rank of Ryu Hyun-woo at the Time was that of counselor. It is understood that the main reason for Ryu’s determination to defect to South Korea was because of the future of his children.
According to a report in the Liberty Times, Cho Sung-gil, the former acting ambassador of North Korea to Italy, had been missing for a long time, but it was later confirmed by South Korean officials that Cho and his wife had defected to South Korea as early as July 2019, but they were afraid of involving their family members in North Korea, so they did not dare to disclose it.
Ryu Hyun-woo is the son-in-law of Kim Jong-un’s secret treasurer
It is said that Ryu Hyun-woo is the son-in-law of Chun Il-chun, the former director of the No. 39 office of the Workers’ Party of Korea. The 39th office is responsible for managing the funds of the North Korean supreme leader, which owns major financial institutions and key enterprises in North Korea such as Koryo Bank, and is also in charge of “foreign exchange generation”, i.e., suspected of drug trafficking and making Super Note, a 100-dollar counterfeit.
In December 2010, the European Union blacklisted Jeon Il-chun for assisting North Korea in developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, and he was replaced in 2017 after authorities deemed him no longer fit to manage money. The South Korean Unification Ministry’s “Changes in North Korea’s Power Structure,” released in January 2018, shows that the head of Office 39 has been changed to Shin Yong-man.
Cho Sung-gil was responsible for buying Luxury goods for Kim Jong-un, among other things
According to a Yonhap report, Cho Sung-gil, who is fluent in English, Italian and French, has served as chargé d’affaires since July 2017, and his father and father-in-law have also served as ambassadors.
On January 4, 2019, according to the South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo, the former North Korean diplomat Tae Yong-ho said that Cho Sung-gil was mainly responsible for purchasing luxury goods such as yachts and wine for Kim Jong-un, and his position was so special that he could be said to be the key person responsible for establishing a secret vault and smuggling luxury goods from the European side.
The company’s main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers. The yacht used by Kim Jong-un arrived in North Korea through Italy, and he played a central role in the whole process.
Tae Yong Ho disclosed that Cho Sung Gil’s father-in-law, Lee Do Seop, was the former North Korean ambassador to Thailand, and Cho Sung Gil is in the highest class of North Korea’s high society in terms of economy.
Cho Sung-gil was posted to Rome in May 2015, when he had been living in Italy for three years and was facing a transfer back to Pyongyang, according to the source. His current act of resisting the will of the Pyongyang authorities may be due to his unwillingness to be recalled.
The tenure of North Korean personnel abroad, including diplomats, is usually two to three years. Most North Korean personnel abroad leave their children behind as “hostages” in North Korea. However, Cho Seong-gil was sent to Rome with his wife and children, indicating his special status.
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