North Korean House of Cards

Name Position(s) Comments
Lieutenant
General Yun
Yong-sik
• Director of the
General Staff
Artillery Bureau
(since 2015)
It is not clear whether the GSD Artillery
Bureau replaced the Firepower Command
Bureau, which is headed by Colonel General
Pak Jong-chon. Yun Yong-sik has been
a rising star within the high command
having risen to a GSD post from a Fourth
Corps brigade commander in 2012.
Lieutenant
General Kim
Yong-bok
Lieutenant
General Kim
Rak-gyom
Government
Yang Hyong-sop
(90)
• Commander of
the 11th Corps
(aka “Storm
Corps”) (since
2015)
• Member of the
CMC (since
2012)
• Commander
of the Strategic
Rocket Force
(SRF) Command
(since
2012)
• Member of the
Politburo (since
2010)
• Vice President
of the SPA
Presidium (since
1998)
The 11th Corps is a special warfare command
in nature but is much bigger and
more diverse in the range of its mission.
Experts estimate that it has a force size of
40,000 to 80,000. Kim Yong-bok’s formal
chain of command runs through the
General Staff, although he most likely also
has a line of communication to O Kukryol,
who retains responsibility for crisis
operations within the NDC.
According to some sources, Kim Jong-un
has a special attachment to the SRF in that
it reflects the high tech part of the armed
forces. The SRF Command is a unified
command of all short-, medium-, and
intermediate-range missile units under the
NDC. Thus, Kim Rak-gyom most likely
has direct channels of communication to a
number of NDC members, including Kim
Jong-un.
Yang Hyong-sop, who is related to the Kim
family by marriage, has spent his career in
the SPA apparatus. His ties to Kim Jong-un
are likely occasional.
Ken E. Gause
97