Ra Jong-yil (Korean: 라종일; born 1940) is a former South Korean ambassador who has authored books on politics concerning North Korea.
Ra received a PhD at the University of Cambridge.
[1] Ra served as South Korea's ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2001 to 2003 and as its ambassador to Japan from 2004 to 2007.
[1] In 2013, Ra released a book about Kang Min-chul – the only person who ever admitted involvement with an attempt to assassinate the South Korean president in 1983 – whom Ra described as "one of the countless young men sacrificed in the long rivalry between the two Koreas and then forgotten".
[2] Ra's 2016 book, The Path Taken by Jang Song‑thaek: A Rebellious Outsider, made claims that Kim Jong‑il did not intend for his son, Kim Jong‑un, to succeed him after he died.