Ri Tu-ik joined Kim Il Sung's partisan struggle in the late 1930s and was part of his security escort.

After training in guerrilla warfare in northeast China, as a member of the 88th Special Reconnaissance Brigade (Russian: 88-я отдельная стрелковая бригада) of the Red Army, he led reconnaissance missions against the Japanese occupation forces in Jilin and North Hamgyong Province.

[1] During the Korean War, known in North Korea as "Victorious Liberation of the Fatherland", Ri was commander of a battalion in 1951 and then completed military training between 1954 and 1958 in the areas of joint warfare and special operations in the Soviet Union.

[2] At the end of the 1968s Ri Tu-ik had a significant share in purges within the Korean People's Army and was promoted to Colonel General in 1968.

On the 6th party congress, which took place in Pyongyang from October 10–14, 1980, he was also elected a member of the Central Military Commission.