North Korean House of Cards

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Name Relation Comments Kang Taesung Kim Cholun Kim Chang-hyok Kim Song-hyon Choe Jun Jon Yong-jin Son of Vice Premier Kang Sok-ju Son of former Vice Director Kim Jung-il of Kim Jong-il’s Personal Secretariat Son of SSD Political Bureau Director Kim Chang-sop Grandson of SPA Presidium Chairman Kim Yong-nam Son of KWP Secretary Choe Ryong-hae Husband of Jang Song-taek’s elder sister • Rumored to be involved with the Torch Group (Bong-hwa-jo) • Head of a foreign trading corporation, dealing mainly with European countries • Rumored to be involved with the Torch Group (Bong-hwa-jo) • Rumored to be involved with the Torch Group (Bong-hwa-jo) • No information available • No information available • Former Ambassador to Cuba • Previously served as Pyongyang’s top envoy to Sweden and Iceland • Status unclear since Jang Song-taek’s purge 243 243 Jon Yong-jin is rumored to have been executed. Other family members of Jang Song-taek who have reportedly been purged include: Jang Kye-sun (sister; executed), Jang Un-sun (sister; executed), Jang Su-kil (foster son; missing), Jang Hyon-chol (Jang Song-u’s eldest son; living in seclusion), Jang Yang-chol (Jang Song-u’s second son; former ambassador to Malaysia; unemployed and living in Pyongyang), Jong Hye-yong (Jang Kye-sun’s eldest daughter from previous marriage; prison camp), Chon Kum-yong (Jang Kye-sun’s second daughter; prison camp), and Jon Chol-min (Jang Kye-sun’s eldest son; prison camp). Ken E. Gause 115
Name Relation Comments Cha Cholma Son-in-law of late KWP OGD First Vice Director Ri Je-gang D. SECTION ONE CONCLUSION • Rumored to be one of the richest men in North Korea • Serves in a top position at the Mansudae Assembly Hall, the seat of the SPA • Reportedly oversees a number of foreign currency earning businesses run by the SPA’s standing committees 244 • Reportedly the Director of the Mansudae Company Over the course of 2014 and 2015, the North Korean leadership has begun to change to reflect the preferences of Kim Jong-un and his ongoing strategy to consolidate power. The regent structure has evaporated, leaving Kim surrounded by a group of key advisors and continuously evolving channels into the second, third, and fourth echelons of power. While he has made swift strides in building a network within the high command that includes a number of two-, three-, and four-star generals, the power and influence around him appears to come through Party channels. Within these Party channels, figures such as Hwang Pyong-so and members of the old guard, including Choe Ryong-hae and Choe Tae-bok, continue to play an important institutional role. Technocrats within the Cabinet, such as Premier Pak Pong-ju, have access to the Supreme Leader, but their influence is unclear. In terms of stability, the regime does not show any overt signs of weakness within the leadership, although rumors of power struggles and competition for resources persist. Contrary to much speculation, recent SPA meetings have not revealed a major revamping of the senior leadership. However, the extent of the Party reshuffles since 2014 remain obscured because North Korean media has yet to publish the full results of administrative decisions made by Politburo and CMC meetings. Both Kim Yong-nam, the 87-year old Chairman of the SPA Presidium, and Premier Pak Pong-ju have retained their posts despite widespread rumors from time to time that they would be replaced. This suggests that while Kim is willing to reorient the informal power structure, he values continuity within the formal ranks of power, most likely as a show of stability. One South Korean analyst noted: 244 “One of NK’s richest men said to serve in assembly hall,” Yonhap News Agency, February 19, 2012. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea 116
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North Korean House of Cards Leaders
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Copyright © 2015 Committee for Hum
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Jack David Senior Fellow, Hudson In
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3. The Regent Structure............
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d. Ministry of People’s Security.
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II. PREFACE After his seminal 2012
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the reader that many are purged bec
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IV. ABOUT THIS STUDY There are nume
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VI. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Merriam-Webst
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ultimate decision maker and sole so
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humanity; in order to understand cr
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32. NIS: South Korean National Inte
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egent structure would begin to chan
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However, there is very little evide
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IX. SECTION ONE: NORTH KOREAN LEADE
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All Party members, military men, an
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Dressed in black, gloveless, and ba
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choreography of the transfer of pow
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suffered a stroke. 18, 19 A month l
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the GPB in the Kim Jong-il era, beg
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2009 from Chief of the GSD to Comma
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posting, Ri had been the Fifth Corp
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Days after Jang Jong-nam was identi
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4. Civil-Military Relations by Mid-
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above, especially the purge of Ri Y
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leaders include Choe Ryong-hae, Kim
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of the military. More than that of
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B. CHAPTER TWO: THE PURGE OF JANG S
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afforded Jang the opportunity to me
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and merged into the RGB as Bureaus
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to as the éminence grise, who was
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a. Kim Jong-il’s Will In 2012, de
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A second rumor suggests that Jang
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KWP OGD, and the SSD, to construct
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ut his pleas went unanswered. At th
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eferred to him as an “unparallele
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Page 79 and 80: ones, lowering the average age of t
Page 81 and 82: the regime. Throughout 2013, Choe a
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Page 87 and 88: Name Position(s) Comments Kim Solso
Page 89 and 90: Name Position(s) Comments Kim Songn
Page 91 and 92: Name Position(s) Comments Colonel G
Page 93 and 94: Table 2: Second Echelon of Power Na
Page 95 and 96: Name Position(s) Comments Miltary/
Page 97 and 98: Name Position(s) Comments General K
Page 99 and 100: Table 3: Third Echelon of Power Nam
Page 101 and 102: Name Position(s) Comments Ju Kyucha
Page 103 and 104: Name Position(s) Comments General P
Page 105 and 106: Name Position(s) Comments Colonel G
Page 107 and 108: Name Position(s) Comments Ro Tu-cho
Page 109 and 110: Table 4: Fourth Echelon of Power Na
Page 111 and 112: Name Position Comments Lieutenant G
Page 113 and 114: Name Position Comments Lieutenant G
Page 115 and 116: Name Position Comments Hong Yongchi
Page 117 and 118: Name Position Comments Jo Thae-san
Page 119 and 120: Name Position Comments Government R
Page 121 and 122: Name Position Comments Kim Choljin
Page 123: Name Relation Comments Ri Il-hyok K
Page 127 and 128: While there is debate within the co
Page 129 and 130: • The Royal Economy. This chapter
Page 131 and 132: within the leadership in the mid-19
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Page 135 and 136: The Tenth SPA convened in Pyongyang
Page 137 and 138: system of socialism.” 273 For man
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Page 141 and 142: Image 11: Kim Jong-il’s signature
Page 143 and 144: Image 13: National Security meeting
Page 145 and 146: Image 15: A March 13, 2013 military
Page 147 and 148: . Kim Jong-un’s Role as Decision
Page 149 and 150: The Friday meetings focus on milita
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Page 155 and 156: worldview. 312 He would hone these
Page 157 and 158: constraints established by his fath
Page 159 and 160: Fully assuming the role of Supreme
Page 161 and 162: As the guidance in Kim Jong-il’s
Page 163 and 164: 1. The Personal Secretariat under K
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Page 167 and 168: Kim Jong-il Secretariat was not an
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Page 171 and 172: a. Personal Secretariat Personnel a
Page 173 and 174: In 2013, South Korean media reports
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Supreme Command apparatus to the GS
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. Secretarial Office of the Central
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from the field commands, as well as
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administrative. Kim Jong-il, a more
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overseeing the implementation of th
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C. CHAPTER SIX: THE ROYAL ECONOMY
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for Kim Il-sung’s own consolidati
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Following the creation of Office 39
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The Early European Connection In th
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numerous subordinate trade and fore
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According to a former diplomat who
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National Intelligence Service (NIS)
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gifts through their place of employ
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ack to Office 39 and into the Royal
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from Office 38 to Office 99 in 2005
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General Trading Corporation, then a
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Hong Kong, and Singapore. These bus
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Kim Jong-il’s private secretary a
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Jang’s Channel to China The Korea
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Chart 10: Jang’s Channel into the
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the Royal Economy. In the summer of
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projects ends up in the Royal Econo
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leadership dynamics inside North Ko
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• The KWP Administrative Departme
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• Tourism represents a growing so
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Chart 12: Jang’s Tapping into Mil
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In addition to these reforms, Kim J
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Despite the regime’s efforts to s
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Night of the Long Knives. Saddam Hu
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In the months following the Party c
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According to South Korean sources,
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In April 2012, the regime made a nu
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National Security Meeting, January
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focus of the meeting was tied to lo
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of the GC escorted Jang from the ha
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as it related to the KWP Administra
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it became more difficult for trader
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Name Post Relationship to the OGD M
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Star.” 545 His elevation in North
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the command and control structure o
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the connections between the larger
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i. Structure The headquarters of th
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Chart 18: Organizational Chart of t
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Pyongyang Anti-Aircraft Artillery C
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Palace of the Sun, which holds the
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ii. Cordon of Security: Relationshi
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iii. Role in the Regime It is assum
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assume the role of political office
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• The Eighth Bureau (Border Secur
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d. Ministry of People’s Security
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chain of command and is responsible
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olstering internal security. Provin
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associate, these fortunes began to
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offices: the Cadre Department, the
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Jo Kyong-chol seated at the far lef
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XI. CONCLUSION To commemorate the 1
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Others see a ruthless regime that i
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it remains to be seen whether this
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continues to create the image of a
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had been executed by anti-aircraft
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• General Ri Yong-gil (60) has be
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2. Party • Kang Sok-ju (76) has b
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• Kim Song-nam (62) is an alterna
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domestic and social issues .668 He
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may occasionally be able to reach o
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Committee list.At the Third Session
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1970s, 692 but his career was resur
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Vice Chairman of the NDC, O Kuk-ryo
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of communication to Kim Jong-un lik
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• Ju Kyu-chang (87) has been an a
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General Pak as his successor withou
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as the “Storm Corps.” He first
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present for Kim Jong-un’s guidanc
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senior leadership are evident in hi
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on debt settlement issues with Russ
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Date Visit Gift (as described in No
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Date Visit Gift (as described in No
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XIV. APPENDIX C: NORTH KOREAN MILIT
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Insignia Title/Name 소좌 (So-jwa)
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B. KOREAN PEOPLE’S ARMY NAVAL FOR
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Insignia Title/Name 상위 (Sang-wi
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C. KOREAN PEOPLE’S ARMY AIR FORCE
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Insignia Title/Name 상위 (Sang-wi
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XV. BIBLIOGRAPHY A. Books and Journ
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54. Cathcart, Adam. “Thrice-Curse
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117. “Is Kim Jong Un Playing Musi
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191. Lee, Gyo-Gwan. “Kim Jong-il
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264. “North Korea’s Kim Jong-un
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Committee for Human Rights in North
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North Korean House of Cards

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