The Americ-un Dream! Kim Jong-Un's aunt has been living in the US for nearly 20 years with her husband and three children and runs a dry cleaning business 

The aunt of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has spoken out about the two years she spent caring for the then teen when he was going to school in Switzerland. 

Ko Yong Suk, 60, and her husband Ri Gang are on the outs with the North Korean leadership, after defecting to the U.S. nearly 20 years ago. 

The couple, who run a small dry cleaning business and live a few hours drive from New York City, spoke out to the Washington Post because Ri is hoping to convince his nephew to let him visit his home country. 

Kim Jong Un's maternal aunt and her husband, known in North Korea as Ko Yong Suk and Ri Gang, pose for a portrait in New York's Times Square on April 23, 2016

They also said they wanted to dispel 'lies' South Korean critics have spread about them, such as that they stole millions of dollars from the Kim regime, spending the money on plastic surgery and other luxuries. 

The couple agreed to speak to Washington Post on the condition they not publish their American aliases, reveal where they live or show their faces in pictures.

While they were careful not to criticize Kim in their interview, at the same time they appeared grateful for the life they have been able to lead in America. 

'My friends here tell me I'm so lucky, that I have everything,' Ko, as she was known in North Korea, told the Post. 'My kids went to great schools and they're successful, and I have my husband, who can fix anything. There's nothing we can envy.'

Her husband added: 'I think we have achieved the American Dream.'

They have been living in the United States since 1998, and run a dry-cleaning store (Kim Yong Suk, pictured, does alterations while her husband runs the machines)

Ri Gang says his ultimate goal in speaking out is to convince North Korean leaders to let him visit his home country 

Ko does not share her husband's ambitions to return to North Korea. The two fled in 1998 when Ko's sister - their connection to the regime - was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer

Ko came from humble origins but her family was raised to the elite class when her sister, a performer named Ko Yong Hui, captured the eye of Kim Jong Il, the then-future leader of North Korea.

After Ko Yong Hui became Kim Jong Il's third wife, Kim personally chose Ri Gang to marry his sister-in-law and the two couples lived together in a compound in Pyongyang, where Ko took care of her children and her sister's children for several years. 

In 1992, Ko moved to Bern, Switzerland to take her sister's oldest son, Kim Jong Chol to attend a private school in the country. Four years later, her sister's other son Kim Jong Un was sent to join them in Switzerland. The future North Korean dictator was 12 years old at the time. 

Ko took care of the boys as if they were her own sons, cooking them meals at home and taking them to Euro Disney and ski trips in the Alps.

'We lived in a normal house and acted like a normal family. I acted like their mother,' Ko said. 'I encouraged him to bring his friends home because we wanted them to live a normal life. I made snacks for the kids. They ate cake and played with Legos.'  

Even at such a young age, Ko says her nephew already showed signs of the leader he would become.

Kim Jong Un lived with his aunt and uncle for two years in Switzerland, while he attended a private school. He is pictured above in an undated photo released by North Korea's official news agency on May 27

'He wasn't a troublemaker but he was short-tempered and had a lack of tolerance,' Ko recalled. 'When his mother tried to tell him off for playing with these things too much and not studying enough, he wouldn't talk back but he would protest in other ways, like going on a hunger strike.' 

She said he loved games and machinery and learning about ships and planes, just like other boys of his age. 

Above, a picture of Ko Yong Suk as a younger woman. She says she and her sister came from humble origins

In the summer, the family would go back to North Korea to spend the hot months at the little Kim's favorite place - the family's beachfront compound in Wonsan. 

Among his other favorite activities was playing basketball, a past time his mother promised would make him grow taller. 

'He started playing basketball, and he became obsessed with it,' his aunt said. 'He used to sleep... with his basketball.'

While their position caring for the Kim children seemed secure in Switzerland, Ko and her husband defected to the U.S. shortly after her sister was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer.

Knowing that her sister was going to die, Ko appears to have become afraid of what would happen to her family's position with the Kims - a warranted fear given the dynasty's penchant for executing members of their own family. 

The couple maintain that they only defected to the U.S. to see if they could get better health care for Ko's dying sister.

'In history, you often see people close to a powerful leader getting into unintended trouble because of other people,' she said. 'I thought it would be better if we stayed out of that kind of trouble.'

So one day in 1998, the couple and their three children took a cab to the U.S. Embassy in Bern and asked for political asylum.

After being questioned by the CIA for several months, the family of five was granted asylum in the U.S. and they first moved to a town that had a South Korean church that pledged to help them.

But they raised eyes at the church because they didn't look like the typical North Korean defector, so shortly after they moved to another town with almost no other Asians.

There, they used the $200,000 payment the CIA gave them after moving to the U.S. to buy a large two-story home where they raised their three children. 

Since they had limited language skills, the couple decided to open up a dry cleaning business. Ri runs the machines while his wife does alterations. 

They work long hours and the money they made has helped them live a comfortable life, with vacations to Las Vegas and South Korea, and the ability to pay for their children's education. 

One of their sons is a arithmetician while the other helps in the store. Their daughter works in computer science.

The couple says they are speaking out now to dispel rumors against them propagated by South Korean critics and because Ri wants to convince North Korean leaders to let him visit his home country. 

'My ultimate goal is to go back to North Korea. I understand America and I understand North Korea, so I think I can be a negotiator between the two,' he said. 'If Kim Jong Un is how I remembered he used to be, I would be able to meet him and talk to him.'

His wife misses her home town as well but says she does not share her husband's belief that they should return to North Korea.