DO ECONOMIC SANCTIONS REALLY DAMAGE NORTH KOREA’S DICTATORSHIP?: According to a high level defector, they do.

“Economic sanctions, if continued, will erode the North Korean regime’s grip on power, create more opportunities for market activities and stir all kinds of corruption and disorder in the country,” said Ri Jong Ho in his first public interview since his defection in late 2014. “That loosening of government control will strike at the very foundation of the [top-down] leader-based system.”

Ri is a defector and a major defector. At one time he was in charge of overseeing North Korea’s economic production and trade. The VOA interview is his first public statement since he defected in 2014.