One of the highest-ranking North Korean officials to defect in recent years has written an illuminating memoir about his life and diplomatic career, pulling back the curtain on Pyongyang’s foreign ministry and special operations in Latin America.

In “The Kim Jong Un That I Saw: The Memoir of a Diplomat Who Defected from North Korea” (私が見た金正恩：北朝鮮亡命外交官の手記), Ri Il Gyu writes about his years as a political counselor at the DPRK Embassy in Cuba, as well as his high-profile escape in Nov. 2023.