North Korean Policy Elites - Defense Technical Information Center

The Operation Command Group of the KPA Supreme Command has to work very
closely with Kim Jong Il’s personal Secretariat, which consists of Kim Chong-Sun (Chief), Kim
Chung-kil, Kil Chae-Gyong, Ri Chae-Kang (WPK CC First Deputy Department Director for
cadres), Kang Song-Chun (bodyguard/protocol), and Ri Yong-Ch’ol (finances), as well as with a
number of the WPK Central Committee members who are his close friends and often escort him
on his trips, especially now-deceased Kim Yong Sun (WPK CC Secretary for International
Affairs), Kim Ki Nam (WPK CC Secretary for Propaganda and Agitation), Ri Yong Ch’ol
(Member of the Central Military Commission and First Deputy Department Director for Military
Affairs), Chang Sung-thaek (brother-in-law and First Deputy Department Director), Ch’oe Chun
Hwang (First Deputy Department Director), Kim Hui Thaek (First Deputy Department Director),
and Mun Myong On (First Deputy Department Director).
Arguably, the military and party leaders in Kim Jong Il’s daily entourage may have
different agendas and divergent perspectives on national developments, and may strive to pull
and push the Dear Leader in different directions.
The fact that North Korea is run predominantly by the military under the military-first
policy does not mean that the country is in hopeless shape: however, as the experience of the
ROK led by General Park Chung-hee, who orchestrated the South Korean economic miracle,
powerfully testifies, revolution from above is one of the possible pathways for North Korean
modernization. If economic reforms continue to bear positive results (following the July 2002
liberalization of prices and wages), Kim Jong Il is expected to initiate a gradual privatization of
state property. At that time, the Korean People’s Army may become one of the leading actors in
the North Korean privatization process, because the KPA generals control so many of the
country’s key economic assets.
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