Ri Il-gyu, a former North Korean diplomat who defected to South Korea, speaks during a forum in Seoul, Sept. 27. Yonhap

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is very "sensitive" to international pressure over his country's human rights situation because he knows suppressing the issue is crucial to retaining his hereditary power, a former North Korean diplomat said Friday.

Ri Il-gyu, a former counselor for political affairs at the North Korean Embassy in Cuba who defected to South Korea last year, made the point at a forum in Seoul on North Korea's human rights.

"Kim Jong-un thoroughly reviews and approves the strategy and logic the foreign ministry should use for human rights issues, as well as the extent to which they should respond," Ri said, claiming that Kim provides detailed instruction on the country's international handling of the issues.

He described the North Korean leader as "pretty sensitive" in responding to human rights issues, saying that "the reason is not because he has an interest in improving the situation, but because he knows retaining his dictatorship and the third hereditary power succession would be impossible without suppressing them."

In North Korea, not only the general public but those closest to the leader are often subject to serious human rights violations, he also claimed, calling on countries that defend the North Korean regime to pay sincere attention to improving the situation. (Yonhap)