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North Korean Policy Elites - Defense Technical Information Center

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“Technocrats”<br />

The “technocrats,” who tend to have technical backgrounds and who have been exposed<br />

to overseas policy innovations, are traditionally located within the central economic apparatus,<br />

including the Cabinet of Ministers and various central economic ministries, agencies, and<br />

commissions loaded with younger economists. Some of the “chiefs” among technocrats may be<br />

conservative, but most of the “indians” tend to be rather pragmatic and progressive in their<br />

policy views. The “technocrats” also aggregate the views of the new entrepreneurs and corporate<br />

elites, especially the former “red directorate” from about a hundred of the most important<br />

industrial combines and commercial enterprises that constitute the backbone of the DPRK’s<br />

industry, agriculture, and service sector, including banking, construction, and commerce. Table 3<br />

lists the key representatives of the “technocrat” establishment in <strong>North</strong> Korea.<br />

Table IV-3. <strong>North</strong> Korea’s “Technocrats” within the Cabinet of Ministers<br />

Cabinet Posts 10 th SPA 11 th SPA<br />

Premier Hong Song-nam Pak Pong-ju<br />

Vice Premier Cho Ch’ang-dok Kwak Pom-gi<br />

Vice Premier Kwak Pom-gi No Tu-ch’ol<br />

Vice Premier Sin Il-nam Chon Sung-hun<br />

State Planning 41 Pak Nam-gi 42 Kim Kwang-Rin<br />

Electric & Coal Industry 43 O Kwang-hung Chu Tong-il<br />

Mining Industries Son Chong-ho Yi Kwang-nam<br />

Metal Machine Industry Chon Sung-hun 44 Kim Sung-hyon<br />

Electronic Industries<br />

O Su-yong<br />

Construction Materials<br />

Industry<br />

Cho Yun-hui<br />

Cho Yun-hui<br />

41 For instance, in an interview with the “People’s Korea” on April 1, 2003, Choi Hong-kyu, a reformist bureau chief<br />

under the State Planning Commission, discussed the efforts of his bureau to develop an indicative “three-year plan<br />

to solve fuel and energy problems.” If that plan were to succeed in its desired goals, it would open a way for the<br />

resumption of longer-term economic planning of broader economic and social developments in the country.<br />

42 Prior to that, Pak Nam-gi served as the Chairman of the Administrative Committee of Pyongyang City.<br />

43 In 2003, the General Bureau of Coal Industry (referred to as GBCI) under the Ministry of Electric and Coal<br />

Industry implemented a major industry-wide restructuring, including a massive raise in miners’ wages on average<br />

up to 15,000 Won per month, expansion of an individual progressive contract work system, and development of<br />

230 quasi-privatized small and mid-sized mines. It also supervised the restructuring and normalization of mine<br />

output at the large-scale Bukchang and Deokcheon Coal Mining Enterprises and Ranam Coal Mining Union<br />

Enterprise. In sum, due to the GBCI-led restructuring in the mining sector, coal output was reportedly increased<br />

by 257,000 tons in 2003 as compared to 2002, which partially alleviated the shortage of energy resources<br />

exacerbated by the KEDO cutoff of the HFO deliveries to the DPRK in December 2002.<br />

44 Minister Chon Sung-hun led an expert-level ministerial delegation to Russia and China to study the experience of<br />

industry-wide restructuring in the Russian and Chinese machine-building sectors during the market transition and<br />

explore ways to resume inter-industry cooperation between the DPRK’s leading machine-building enterprises,<br />

especially the Ryongsong Machine-building Complex and Huichon Machine-building Combine, and their<br />

traditional Russian and Chinese counterparts in July 2003.<br />

IV-35

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