North Korean House of Cards

SECTION TWO: KIM JONG-UN’S APPARATUS
OF POWER
Kim Jong-un is the Supreme Leader, but he does not rule alone. Although
he is the ultimate decision-maker, his power and authority rest upon a vast
apparatus consisting of several institutions and individuals largely nested in the Party,
but also spread across the regime. He depends on this apparatus to provide him with
situational awareness, protection, and the funds he needs to rule unburdened.
The apparatus of power in any totalitarian regime is not static. It evolves
to take on the character of the Supreme Leader. In North Korea, this apparatus
changed dramatically from Kim Il-sung to Kim Jong-il. What was once a formal
system in service of an all-powerful individual became a set of informal channels
in service of an individual more comfortable wielding power behind the scenes.
With the rise of Kim Jong-il, the role of the Personal Secretariat was dramatically
enhanced and a special channel for funding the Kim family, widely known as the
Royal Economy, was established. The internal politics of the security services also
evolved to match broader political trends.
This section begins with a discussion of how the regime operates. The
“Leader” (Suryong) based system is designed to ensure that all power and authority
flow from the Supreme Leader. The first chapter in this section discusses how the
system evolved. This is followed by an examination of the steps that were taken to
usher in the Kim Jong-un era, which includes an assessment of Kim’s leadership style,
how information flows throughout the leadership, and how decisions are made. The
consequences of Jang Song-taek’s purge on the Suryong system are also considered.
The section concludes with an examination of Kim Jong-un’s apparatus of
power itself. In particular, these chapters are devoted to three critical elements of
the apparatus:
• Kim Jong-un’s Personal Secretariat. This chapter will look at the role
and mission of the Personal Secretariat, as well the Secretarial Office
of the Central Committee (SOCC), 252 a larger apparatus tied to the
KWP. It is from this inner sanctum that the Supreme Leader runs the
wider regime.
252 It should be noted that the SOCC is not the KWP Secretariat. They are distinct bodies. The
personnel in the SOCC are members of the Supreme Leader’s personal staff that coordinates the functions
of the Party (and wider regime) apparatus as it relates to the Leader. The KWP Secretariat is responsible
for managing the implementation and enforcement of the Party’s decisions. It manages the KWP’s administrative,
personnel, financial, and housekeeping needs through subordinate departments and bureaus.
Ken E. Gause
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