Unstable political situation in North Korea
Several North Korean diplomats, including the one who was foreign minister until 2020, would have been executed, US and South Korean media say. The highest-ranking victim would be former minister Ri Yong-ho. He would have died, apparently, in mid-2022. In the same period, four or five employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Pyongyang would have died. All the officials who were allegedly executed had been involved in organizing the 2019 meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. The meeting took place in the city of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. The Hanoi summit was held on February 27-28, 2019, without ending in an agreement between the US and North Korea. For this reason, that summit was considered a failure.
While the rationale for the death penalty for diplomats has not yet been clarified, newspaper sources stated that many of the representatives of the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs were working at the North Korean embassy in the UK. While it cannot be ruled out that the reasons may be problems with the embassy, details were not specified. In 2016, Tae Yong-ho, DPRK’s Deputy Ambassador to the United Kingdom, managed to move with his family to South Korea, where he received asylum. North Korean officials, for their part, accused the fugitive diplomat of financial embezzlement, sexual acts against minors, and spying on behalf of South Korea. The story later received wide publicity around the world. The Japanese publication does not exclude that the recent executions were aimed at putting pressure on North Korean diplomats to prevent such escape attempts. In response, a source at South Korea’s Unification Ministry told South Korean Yonhap news agency that the ministry was aware of the Japanese newspaper’s report and was checking the relevant information. “The execution of Lee Yong Ho has not been confirmed since April 2020, although he has not been mentioned in the North Korean media since April 2020,” the source said. Lee Yong Ho, recognized as an expert on interaction with the United States, was replaced as foreign minister of the DPRK in January 2020. Ri Song Gwon, the former military head of the Peaceful Unification of the Fatherland Committee, has been appointed as the new head of the division.
By Sara Colin
