Ri served as a deputy director of the Organization and Guidance Department from 2007 to 2010, when he was appointed chief secretary of the North Pyongan Provincial Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and gained a seat in the party's Central Committee. He was transferred to Pyongyang in 2015 and promoted to party vice-chairman, Politburo member and director of the Munitions Department at the 7th Congress in May 2016. This concurred with his promotion to the newly created State Affairs Commission, and he was also included in the Central Military Commission. He returned to the OGD in October 2017 as its first deputy director, before moving up as department director on 9 April 2019.