North Korean House of Cards

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coordination position in order to support the return of the Control Tower role to the Supreme Leader. If this occurs, decision-making in the regime will likely revert to something akin to the “hub-and-spoke” model that existed under Kim Jong-il. The Supreme Leader acts as the micromanager and is solely responsible for signing off on all policies, relying on the Personal Secretariat, which will likely expand, to set the agenda and coordinate the decision-making process. Depending on how prepared Kim Jong-un is to assume this role, policymaking could become erratic in the absence of family guardians such as Kim Kyong-hui, or a regent structure like that of Jang Song-taek, to provide checks and balances on the young leader’s sporadic leadership style. Ken E. Gause 175
C. CHAPTER SIX: THE ROYAL ECONOMY— CONTROLLING THE KIM FAMILY FINANCES Over the years, there have been a number of articles devoted to the Royal Economy in North Korea, which is the part of the economy that is devoted to keeping the Kim family in power. Most of these articles discuss the number of illicit programs the regime has put in place to raise hard currency across the world. A 2014 report by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea entitled Illicit: North Korea’s Evolving Operations to Earn Hard Currency reveals an underworld where North Korean financiers, money launderers, counterfeiters, and scam artists conduct their business all while seeking to circumvent the sanctions and surveillance of the international community. 384 This chapter will briefly discuss the overseas aspects of the Royal Economy. It will mainly focus, however, on the apparatus and key individuals inside the regime that generate and control the funds that Kim Jong-un relies on to maintain and consolidate power. It will also look at some of the critical funding streams that feed the Kim family’s coffers. 1. Origins of the Royal Economy The creation of the Royal Economy dates back to the 1970s and is tied to the politics of succession. In many respects, the 1970s was a watershed decade in North Korean history. During this period, Kim Il-sung fully consolidated his power, as spelled out in the 1972 constitution. Kim Il-sung also attempted to institute a direct hereditary transition of power to his son, Kim Jong-il. Finally, the regime began to feel the ire of the international community, which began to freeze North Korea out of the capital markets. Pyongyang had defaulted on its loans after incorrectly predicting the value of its raw materials, leaving the country scrambling to secure hard currency. 385 384 Sheena Chestnut Greitens, Illicit: North Korea’s Evolving Operations to Earn Hard Currency (Washington, D.C.: Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, 2014). 385 Bruce Cumings, Korea’s Place in the Sun: A Modern History (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1998). In the 1970s, the expansion of North Korea’s economy, with an accompanying rise in living standards, came to an end and began to contract a few decades later. Compounding this was a decision to borrow foreign capital and invest heavily in military industries. North Korea’s desire to lessen its dependence on aid from China and the Soviet Union prompted the expansion of its military power, which began in the second half of the 1960s. The government believed such expenditures could be covered by foreign borrowing and increased sales of its mineral resources in the international market. North Korea invested heavily in its mining industries and purchased a large quantity of mineral extraction infrastructure from abroad. However, soon after making such investments, international prices for many of North Committee for Human Rights in North Korea 176
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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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out of the picture, 163 the connect
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ankings in October 2013 and then fe
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Jong-il, such as Ri Su-yong (Ri Cho
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ones, lowering the average age of t
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the regime. Throughout 2013, Choe a
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4. Kim Jong-un and the Wider Leader
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Armed Forces, 202 had been executed
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Name Position(s) Comments Kim Solso
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Name Position(s) Comments Kim Songn
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Name Position(s) Comments Colonel G
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Table 2: Second Echelon of Power Na
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Name Position(s) Comments Miltary/
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Name Position(s) Comments General K
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Table 3: Third Echelon of Power Nam
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Name Position(s) Comments Ju Kyucha
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Name Position(s) Comments General P
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Name Position(s) Comments Colonel G
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Name Position(s) Comments Ro Tu-cho
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Table 4: Fourth Echelon of Power Na
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Name Position Comments Lieutenant G
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Name Position Comments Lieutenant G
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Name Position Comments Hong Yongchi
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Name Position Comments Jo Thae-san
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Name Position Comments Government R
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Name Position Comments Kim Choljin
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Name Relation Comments Ri Il-hyok K
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Name Relation Comments Cha Cholma S
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While there is debate within the co
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• The Royal Economy. This chapter
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within the leadership in the mid-19
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Page 141 and 142: Image 11: Kim Jong-il’s signature
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Page 145 and 146: Image 15: A March 13, 2013 military
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Page 163 and 164: 1. The Personal Secretariat under K
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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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Page 177 and 178: . Secretarial Office of the Central
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Page 183: overseeing the implementation of th
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Page 189 and 190: Following the creation of Office 39
Page 191 and 192: The Early European Connection In th
Page 193 and 194: numerous subordinate trade and fore
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Page 211 and 212: Jang’s Channel to China The Korea
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Page 225 and 226: Chart 12: Jang’s Tapping into Mil
Page 227 and 228: In addition to these reforms, Kim J
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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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