Little is known about his civil and political career before 1992, when he became deputy director of one of the departments of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea.
In February 2001, he became chairman of the State Publishing Control Committee, the main office dealing with political censorship in North Korea's mass media.
He was a member of the 12th convocation of the Supreme People's Assembly, the unicameral parliament of North Korea.
Pursuant to the provisions of the 3rd Conference of the Workers' Party of Korea, on 28 September 2010, Ri Jae-il became a deputy member of the Central Committee.
[1] This testified to the formal and actual belonging of Ri Jae il to the political leadership of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.