North Korean House of Cards

Name Relation Comments
Ri Il-hyok
Kim Chol
Choe Hyon-chol
Ri Yong-ran
Son of former Ambassador
to Switzerland,
Ri Chol
Son of SSD (aka
MSS) Director Kim
Won-hong
Son of KWP Secretary
Choe Ryong-hae
Daughter of deceased
OGD First
Vice Director Ri
Yong-chol
• Rumored to be involved with the
Torch Group (Bong-hwa-jo)
• Since his father became Minister
of Foreign Affairs, Ri’s status may
have ascended.
• Rumored to be involved with the
Torch Group (Bong-hwa-jo)
• Chairman of the Ryanggang Province
People’s Committee 239
• Head of the Chongbong Trading
Company and referred to as “little
240, 241
MSS Director”
• Hard currency generator and Kim
Chol’s rival
• Adopted daughter of Hwang Pyong-so
• Rumored to have assumed the directorship
of Department 54 operations
since the purge of Jang Song-taek and
the dismantling of the KWP Administrative
Department, with her ties to
this department going back to 1996 242
• Rumored to be allied to Hwang
Pyong-so and a rival of Kim Chol
239 Ryanggang Province is home to much of North Korea’s defense industry.
240 “The Emergence of an Elite More Feared than the Supreme Leader,” New Focus International,
December 9, 2014. Kim Chol is also referred to as the “Chungbong Bank” or “Kim Jong-un’s Elder
Brother” because he brings in millions of dollars of hard currency into the regime on an annual basis.
241 Kim Chol reportedly generates large amounts of money from investments in various areas
including oil imports. North Korea annually imports about USD600 million (about 709.4 billion
Korean won) worth of oil from China. North Korea’s oil import franchise used to be monopolized by
Jang Su-kil, a vice director of the KWP Administration Department, the closest aide to Jang Song-taek.
However, Kim Chol reportedly took over the oil import franchise after Jang Su-kil was executed in
November 2013. See “Inheritance of Wealth’ Among Children of People in Power in North Korea,”
Dong-A Ilbo, September 16, 2015.
242 Ibid. According to this source, Department 54 now resides within the GPB. It earns huge
amounts of foreign exchange proceeds from selling coal and other minerals and fishery products to China.
Committee for Human Rights in North Korea
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