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A TV screen shows a file image of Ri Il Kyu, a senior North Korea diplomat based in Cuba, during a news program at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, July 16, 2024. South Korea's spy agency said Tuesday that Ri has fled to South Korea, the latest in a series of defections by members of the North's ruling elite in recent years. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A TV screen shows a file image of Ri Il Kyu, a senior North Korea diplomat based in Cuba, during a news program at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, July 16, 2024. South Korea's spy agency said Tuesday that Ri has fled to South Korea, the latest in a series of defections by members of the North's ruling elite in recent years. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

FILE - A North Korean flag flutters in the wind atop a 160-meter (525-foot) tower in the North's Kijong-dong village near the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone in Paju, South Korea on Sept, 28, 2017. South Korea's spy agency said Tuesday, July 16, 2024, that a North Korea diplomat based in Cuba has defected to South Korea.(AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

FILE - A North Korean flag flutters in the wind atop a 160-meter (525-foot) tower in the North's Kijong-dong village near the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone in Paju, South Korea on Sept, 28, 2017. South Korea's spy agency said Tuesday, July 16, 2024, that a North Korea diplomat based in Cuba has defected to South Korea.(AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)