A North Korean diplomat in Cuba defected to South Korea in November, Seoul says

South Korea’s spy agency says a North Korea diplomat based in Cuba has defected to South Korea. The National Intelligence Service said Tuesday that media reports on the defection of a North Korean counselor of political affairs in Cuba are true. It gave no further details. South Korea’s mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported earlier Tuesday that diplomat Ri Il Kyu fled to South Korea with his wife and children in November. Ri’s defection is the latest in a series of defections by North Korean diplomats in South Korea in recent years. About 34,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.