North Korea’s elites disillusioned with Kim Jong Un’s erratic behaviour, says defector

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un smiling after overseeing a ground jet test of a solid-fuel engine for a new-type intermediate hypersonic missile in March 2024. Photo / Getty Images

North Korea’s elites are becoming “disillusioned” with Kim Jong Un’s erratic behaviour, according to a high-level defector who has called for a greater push to destabilise the authoritarian regime.

Ri Il-gyu, 52, served as a political counsellor at the North Korean embassy in Cuba until he escaped last November, becoming the highest-ranking defector since 2016. He is now a well-known media figure in South Korea.

The reclusive country’s upper, or cadre, class had experienced a significant shift in how they perceived the Kim family dynasty, he told the Global Korea Forum in the South’s capital, Seoul, this week.

“They’ve become disillusioned with the regime due to Kim Jong Un’s impulsive behaviour,” Ri said, explaining that the punishment of minor mistakes with dismissals and even execution had created an “atmosphere of anxiety and uncertainty”.

Kim reportedly ordered the execution of 20 to 30 regional government officials over their alleged failure to minimise the devastation caused by extensive flooding in July that killed thousands.

The officials were charged with corruption and dereliction of duty, South Korean outlet TV Chosun reported, citing an unnamed North Korean official.

Kim had vowed in late July to “strictly punish” the officials for the “severe neglect” of their duties.

Ri pointed out that citizens were hesitant to rise up against Kim’s reign of terror because of the draconian surveillance system and the brutal repression of any dissent.

Kim’s “war on corruption” had fostered a culture of bribery among North Korean officials, who saw it as a survival tactic, he added.

Ri pointed out that citizens were hesitant to rise up against Kim’s reign of terror because of the draconian surveillance system and the brutal repression of any dissent.

He urged the South Korean Government to step up efforts to stoke the North’s collapse from within through targeted information campaigns inside the country and a strategy to win over diplomats stationed abroad to “build a force for change”.

Seoul had to underscore the message that everyone living under the regime was “a slave to the Kim family”, he said.

Ri has previously recounted – in his first interview with the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo – that his own defection was spurred by disillusionment and frustration that his career had been derailed by his inability to pay large bribes to his superiors.

He made the decision to defect in 2023 after he was denied permission for treatment for a spinal injury, but he only gave his wife and child six hours’ notice that they would be escaping abroad.

The one-hour wait at the airport “felt like years”, he said, adding: “For the first time, I prayed earnestly for God to protect my family, understanding why people believe in religion.”

Ri also revealed in the same interview that he had had tea with Kim Jong Un.

“In person, Kim Jong Un is just an ordinary human,” he said. “Up close, you can’t help but think his blood pressure must be extremely high; his face is always red, like he’s been drinking, even redder than on screen.”