The life of a money-making boss for North Korea

Ri Jong-ho was once North Korea's top earner, sending millions of dollars a year back to Pyongyang.

Ri Jong-ho, former North Korean official. Photo: Washington Post.

Ri Jong-ho spent three decades working for Office 39, the wing of the Workers' Party of Korea responsible for making money for the country's leadership. The office is believed to be involved in both legal and illegal trade, including counterfeiting money and drug smuggling.

“We did not suffer any ‘wounds’ in trade because of the sanctions. Instead, we conducted our first nuclear test in 2006,” Ri Jong-ho said in the interview.

"I have been sanctioned before, because I am the North Korean who leads the North Korean trade issue, but I don't feel any pain. The sanctions are very superficial," Ri said.

He described being able to send millions of dollars to North Korea simply by handing a bag of cash to the captain of a ship traveling from the Chinese port city of Dalian to the North Korean port of Nampo, or giving it to someone to take on a train across the border.

In the first nine months of 2014, before he defected in October, Ri said he sent about $10 million back to Pyongyang this way.

Ri said he was the head of a transport company and chairman of the Korea Kumgang Group, which had a joint venture with Chinese businessman Sam Pa to develop a taxi company in Pyongyang.

Ri was awarded the title of "hero of labor" in 2002. He lives a lavish life in Pyongyang, with a color TV and a car. "I was very loyal to Kim Jong-il, so I was rewarded by him," Ri said. "I am rich."

His last position was at the Dalian branch of Daeheung, a company that specializes in coal, seafood exports and oil imports.

But in 2014, Ri became increasingly disillusioned after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un denounced his uncle Jang Song-thaek as a "traitor" and executed him in late 2013.

Jang was the leader of economic cooperation efforts with China and dozens of his subordinates were also purged at the time. Ri was so worried that his family would be next that they fled to South Korea before moving to the United States.

Experts say Ri's arrival in the US could be a boon to US efforts to crack down on North Korea. "It's always helpful to have a defector, especially one who knows the inner workings of Office 39, to help us," said Anthony Ruggiero, a former US Defense Department official.

The US has been trying to understand how North Korea uses banks in China to finance its activities. “I hope the Treasury Department and some other government agencies will reach out to him to get more information,” Ruggiero said.

Ri said that North Korea always finds a way to get around any sanctions it is placed under. “North Korea is a 100% state-owned enterprise, so these companies simply change their names after being sanctioned,” he said. “That way the company continues to operate, but under a different name than the one on the sanctions list.”

Ri’s Chinese partners are not deterred either. “My partners in China want to make a profit, so they don’t care much about sanctions,” he said. “When the Chinese government orders them to stop trading with us, they stop for a few days and then resume.”

Ri said that to curb North Korea's nuclear program, the US should consider dialogue.

"I think there needs to be high-level talks between the US and North Korea, so they can work together to solve the problem," Ri said.

Previous diplomatic efforts to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons have failed, and there is widespread skepticism in Washington about negotiations.

However, the current government should not let that stop it from trying, Ri said. "People often say that in politics, yesterday's enemy can become today's friend."

According to VNE