North Korean House of Cards

CHAPTER FIVE: THE SUPREME LEADER’S
PERSONAL SECRETARIAT
A poorly understood aspect of totalitarian regimes is the role and importance
of the leader’s personal apparatus. In these regimes, top-down control is zealously
enforced. A leader’s situational awareness and penchant for micro-management are
essential to running the regime, and the need for a network of loyal and devoted
aides and advisors is paramount.
Under Kim Jong-il, the role and function of the Personal Secretariat came
to light through defector reports and books published by senior members of the
leadership who made their way to South Korea. When Kim Jong-il died, theories
about the fate of this institution emerged. Some believed that it was passed down
to his successor, Kim Jong-un. Others believed that the new leader may have leaned
on his father’s apparatus in the first few months of his reign but slowly created his
own smaller Personal Secretariat that answers only to him. As one well-informed
South Korean Pyongyang-watcher noted:
Anyone who says they know anything about Kim Jong-un’s Personal
Secretariat will probably be proven wrong. This subject is too
sensitive and no information about it is known for sure—just rumors
and speculation. 325
Readers must keep this in mind while reading the following description
of the role and function of the Personal Secretariat. It is based on information
that came out during the Kim Jong-il era. It is further augmented with the latest
information about its existence today under Kim Jong-un emerging from defector
networks in Seoul.
Following a brief overview of the history of this powerful, yet obscure
apparatus, this chapter will examine the role and function of Kim Jong-un’s Personal
Secretariat. Its organizational structure and key figures will be given special consideration,
as well as its ties to the larger leadership structure, especially the NDC.
325 Author’s interview in Seoul, April 2013.
Ken E. Gause
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