North Korean House of Cards

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endeavor. Regardless of Jang’s motives, Kim Jong-un most likely viewed his uncle’s actions as dangerous to his own control of the regime. 486 d. Restructuring the Royal Economy The removal of Jang Song-taek from the leadership was the first move in what appears to be a major revamping of the command and control structure of the Royal Economy. The new structure is still unclear and assessments of who controls what are based on rumors emerging from various defector networks. 487 In the days after Jang’s execution, Kim Jong-un reportedly issued orders on the reorganization of the regime’s foreign currency earning apparatus. Notably, the parts of the apparatus that were tied to the KWP Administrative Department were dissolved and reintegrated into the KWP OGD. • Department 54, which had been at the center of Jang’s growing “empire,” was placed under Office 39. • Office 39 was removed from the KWP FAD and transferred to the KWP OGD. • Daesong Bank was separated from Office 39. • Department 44, which oversees the military’s foreign currency earnings, was reportedly moved from the GSD to the GPB. 488 • Approximately thirty trade companies, which had been moved to the Cabinet by Jang Song-taek, were returned to the military. 489 486 As a final indignity in November 2013, soon after Jang Song-taek’s arrest, Kim Jong-un was informed of a debt of $38 million that Department 54 had incurred in China as a result of several agreements with Chinese trade organizations and companies that were allegedly tied to Chinese security organizations. According to sources in Seoul and Beijing familiar with the issue, Kim Jong-un tasked Office 39 with repaying the debt. 487 “Kim Jong-un Orders Agents Overseas to Return Home to Achieve Generational Change,” Sankei Shimbun, December 22, 2014. According to recent regional reporting, Kim Jong-un has issued orders calling for the return to North Korea of agents, smugglers, and other officials assigned to longterm overseas duties. Some suggest that this could be tied to a generational turnover. It, however, could undermine some of the on-going hard currency operations since it would interfere with transaction networks based on personal connections with those in local underground communities necessary for foreign currency trading. 488 Choe Ryong-hae, who was the Director of the GPB at the time, allegedly tried to persuade Kim Jong-un to put Department 54 under the GPB. 489 “Kim Jong Un Reorganizes North Korea’s Foreign Currency Earning System; Kim Yo-jong to Oversee Party’s Foreign Currency Earnings,” NK Intellectuals Solidarity, January 10, 2014. Ken E. Gause 217
In addition to these reforms, Kim Jong-un placed his younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, in charge of the more critical foreign currency funding streams in an apparent effort to exert greater control over the Royal Economy. According to one defector group, she has authority over the Party’s foreign currency earning bodies, including Office 38 and Office 39, as well as direct oversight of the international financial transaction organs, such as Daesong Bank. In addition, she has taken over the substantial portfolio that her aunt, Kim Kyong-hui, used to control, including the Kyonghung and Rakwon guidance bureaus. 490 At the end of October 2014, South Korean media reported that Kim Yo-jong had married a senior official in Office 39. 491 Chart 13: Royal Economy Lines of Control under Kim Jong-un Supreme Leader (Kim Jong-un) NDC (Dept. 54) General Bureau 73 (Kim Sol-song) 7th Group Office 99 Finance and Accounting Department (Han Kwang-sang) Dept. 54 Organization Guidance Department (Kim Yo-jong) Daesong Bank General Political Bureau (Hwang Pyong-so) Machine Industry (Munitions) Department (Ju Kyu-chang) Dept. 44 Office 38 (Kim Tong-un) Koryo Guidance Bureau Yangkakdo Guidance Bureau Ryukyong Guidance Bureau Daehung Guidance Bureau Kumgang Guidance Bureau Office 39 (Jon Il-chun) Daesong Guidance Bureau Kyonghung Guidance Bureau Rakwong Guidance Bureau Kumkang Guidance Bureau KNIC Daesong Trading Co. Second Economic Committee (Jo Chun-ryong) External Economic General Bureau Yongaksan General Trading Corp. Changkwang Trade Bank Danchon Commercial Banks Second Academy of Natural Sciences (Choe Chun-sik) Second Trade Company Direct Communications 490 Ibid. 491 Kim Myeong-Seong, “Kim Jong-un’s Sister ‘Married’ Senior Party Official Managing Slush Funds,” The Chosun Ilbo, October 29, 2014. In January 2015, the South Korean media reported that Kim had married one of Choe Ryong-hae’s sons. Speculation was that it was his second son, Choe Song. “NK leader’s sister weds son of Choe Ryong-hae,” Yonhap News Agency, January 2, 2015. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea 218
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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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ase of power. 261 Decision-making o
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The Tenth SPA convened in Pyongyang
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system of socialism.” 273 For man
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Leader. However, this will not last
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Image 11: Kim Jong-il’s signature
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Image 13: National Security meeting
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Image 15: A March 13, 2013 military
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. Kim Jong-un’s Role as Decision
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The Friday meetings focus on milita
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and its Presidium organize and dire
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KWP Charter, the CMC “discusses a
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worldview. 312 He would hone these
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constraints established by his fath
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Fully assuming the role of Supreme
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As the guidance in Kim Jong-il’s
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1. The Personal Secretariat under K
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of Kim’s death in 2011, it is rum
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Kim Jong-il Secretariat was not an
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and manner of operation, however, a
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a. Personal Secretariat Personnel a
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In 2013, South Korean media reports
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Page 185 and 186: C. CHAPTER SIX: THE ROYAL ECONOMY
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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 221 and 222: • The KWP Administrative Departme
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Page 225: Chart 12: Jang’s Tapping into Mil
Page 229 and 230: Despite the regime’s efforts to s
Page 231 and 232: Night of the Long Knives. Saddam Hu
Page 233 and 234: In the months following the Party c
Page 235 and 236: According to South Korean sources,
Page 237 and 238: In April 2012, the regime made a nu
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Page 241 and 242: focus of the meeting was tied to lo
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Page 245 and 246: as it related to the KWP Administra
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Page 249 and 250: Name Post Relationship to the OGD M
Page 251 and 252: Star.” 545 His elevation in North
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Page 257 and 258: i. Structure The headquarters of th
Page 259 and 260: Chart 18: Organizational Chart of t
Page 261 and 262: Pyongyang Anti-Aircraft Artillery C
Page 263 and 264: Palace of the Sun, which holds the
Page 265 and 266: ii. Cordon of Security: Relationshi
Page 267 and 268: iii. Role in the Regime It is assum
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Page 273 and 274: Chart 21: Organizational Chart of t
Page 275 and 276: 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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Chart 22: Organizational Chart of t
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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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