Kim Jong Un wants Trump back, elite defector tells BBC

BBC:

Donald Trump returning to the White House would be “a once-in-a-thousand year opportunity” for North Korea, according to a man in a unique position to know.

Ri Il Kyu is the highest-profile defector to escape North Korea since 2016, and has been face-to-face with Kim Jong Un on seven separate occasions.

The former diplomat, who was working in Cuba when he fled with his family to South Korea last November, admits to “shivering with nerves” the first time he met Kim Jong Un.

But during each meeting, he found the leader to be “smiling and in a good mood”.

“He praised people often and laughed. He seems like an ordinary person,” Mr Ri says. But he is in no doubt Mr Kim would do anything to guarantee his survival, including kill all 25 million of his people: “He could have been a wonderful person and father, but turning him into a god has made him a monstrous being.”

In an hours-long interview with the BBC, Mr Ri provides a rare understanding of what the world’s most secretive and repressive states is hoping to achieve.

He said that North Korea still views Mr Trump as someone it can negotiate with over its nuclear weapons programme, despite talks between him and Kim Jong Un breaking down in 2019.

Mr Trump has previously hailed the relationship with Kim as a key achievement of his presidency. He famously said the two “fell in love” exchanging letters. Just last month, he told a rally Mr Kim would like to see him back in office: “I think he misses me, if you want to know the truth.”

North Korea is hoping it can use this close personal relationship to its advantage, said Mr Ri, contradicting an official statement from Pyongyang last month that it “did not care” who became president.

The nuclear state will never get rid of its weapons, Mr Ri said, and would likely seek a deal to freeze its nuclear programme in return for the US lifting sanctions

But he said Pyongyang would not negotiate in good faith. Agreeing to freeze its nuclear programme “would be a ploy, 100% deception”, he said, adding that this was therefore a “dangerous approach” that would “only lead to the strengthening of North Korea”.