The release of previously undisclosed North Korean diplomatic cables has unmasked Kim Jong Un’s strategy for countering criticism of his country’s human right abuses, revealing a regime obsessed with shaping its image on the global stage.

Ri Il Kyu, a former political counselor at the North Korean Embassy in Cuba and one of the highest-level defectors to resettle in South Korea in years, took the cables with him when he escaped last year, and Seoul’s unification ministry published the first batch focusing on human rights issues on Friday.