North Korean House of Cards

Kim Jong-il Secretariat was not an official organization, its senior cadre worked
externally as members of the KWP OGD. 334
Closely associated with Kim Jong-il’s Personal Secretariat, even overlapping
at times, was an entity known as the Third Floor. 335 This element of Kim Jong-il’s
personal staff assisted him in conducting numerous special operations, both inside
and outside the country. The members of the Third Floor cadre normally had long
political careers. Paek In-su, former head of Office 39, worked for the apparatus for
twenty-eight years, and Kwon Yong-rok and Ri Chol did so for more than twenty
years. 336 While it would have been difficult to replace them, as they were in charge
of secret affairs, their long hold on their positions was also related to Kim Jong-il’s
personality. These behind-the-scene members of the leadership were critical to the
maintenance of the regime. 337
334 Ibid.
335 The name comes from the location of this office, which was on the third floor of Office
Complex Number 1, where Kim Jong-il’s offices were located.
336 “3 DPRK Men who Procured Luxury, Military Items for Kim Jong-il,” Uin Hatsu “Konfidensharu,”
March 10, 2010. Kwon Yong-rok is tied to Office 39. According to some sources, he was a Deputy
Director, a position he may still hold. He has been based in Vienna, Austria since the early 1980s when
he held the post of the now defunct Kumsong Bank, North Korea’s only bank operating in Europe until
it was forced to close at the end of June 2004. He was officially an auditor, but in actuality, he was the
bank head. A fluent German speaker, Kwon was one of the primary procurers of luxury items for the Kim
family. Other Third Floor operatives in Europe included Yun Ho-chin and Kim Chong-ryul. Yun Hochin
is a specialist in nuclear programs. He was a diplomat who served for a long time as a senior North
Korean representative at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Using Vienna as his base, Yun
roamed all over Germany and the rest of Europe looking to purchase equipment and devices needed for
North Korea’s nuclear development. Yun later became the Director of the Namchonkang Trading Corporation,
a subsidiary of North Korea’s General Bureau of Atomic Energy that is tasked with procuring
nuclear-related equipment. He had tried to secretly import from a German company aluminum tubes for
centrifuges used in uranium enrichment facilities, but this plan ended in failure when it was uncovered.
Yun is one of the five individuals targeted by UN sanctions imposed on North Korea in July 2009. Kim
Chong-ryul is a former KPA Colonel. Based in Austria and Germany, he procured luxury items for the
Kim family and weapons-related equipment. But when Kim Il-sung died in 1994, Kim Chong-ryul decided
to defect, and he went into hiding in Austria. In 2010, he published his autobiography recounting his
secret past.
337 These special operations marked a significant departure from the role of the Personal Secretariat
as it existed under Kim Il-sung. For example, the concept of a slush fund, which was managed
by Kim Jong-il’s staff, did not exist before he took power. Instead, Kim Il-sung’s needs were paid for
by “presidential bonds,” which were created by taking three percent of the budget. They were akin to the
resources reserved in preparation for war. The slush funds were used as Kim Jong-il’s personal money
to buy whatever he thought necessary, including daily necessities from foreign countries or presents for
his subordinates. Many contend that the operation of this nefarious activity by a key component of the
regime undermined Kim Jong-il’s legitimacy.
Committee for Human Rights in North Korea
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