North Korean House of Cards

Name Position Comments
Hong Yongchil
Ri Il-hwan
Vice Director, KWP
MID (?)
Department Director,
KWP Working Organization
Department
• Began accompanying Kim Jong-un
on guidance inspections in February
2013, mostly to machine plants
speculated to be associated with the
defense industry
• Rumored to hold a high-ranking
position related to defense logistics in
either the KWP MID or the SEC 222
• On March 17, 2013, North Korean
media published a photograph of him
sitting in the front row with Kim Jongun
and Pak To-chun at a “meeting of
the Council of the Functionaries in the
Munitions Industry Sector” 223
• Ranked 39th on Jon Pyong-ho’s
Funeral Committee list 224
• Former KWP Secretary of the Pyongyang
City Committee
• Oversaw numerous rallies in support
of Kim Jong-un in 2012
• Assumed current position in April 2014
• Ranked 23rd on Jon Pyong-ho’s
Funeral Committee list
222 Jang Cheol-Un, “Hong Yong-chil, New Face Who Frequently Accompanies the North’s Kim
Jong Un on On-Site Guidance Trips, Draws Attention,” Yonhap News Agency, July 4, 2013. South Korean
media have speculated that Hong Yong-chil is a Vice Director of the KWP MID or a Vice Chairman of
the SEC in charge of manufacturing munitions.
223 Ibid. In his 50s, Hong allegedly came to the attention of the North Korean leadership in 2011
when he received the title of “Labor Hero,” the highest honor in North Korea. It was conferred on him in
February 2011 while he was working as the Party Committee Secretary of the Unsan Tool Plant, North
Pyongan Province.
224 Given Ju Kyu-chang’s decline in the formal ranking on this list to 85th, some have suggested
that Hong may now be the new Director of the KWP MID. Since Jon’s funeral, Hong has appeared at a
number of defense industry events, while Ju has remained out of the public eye.
Committee for Human Rights in North Korea
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