North Korean House of Cards

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its Chief Political Officer. Five months later, at the Third Party Conference, Yun Jong-rin was made a member of the KWP CMC, 495 thus solidifying him as a key advisor and protégé of Kim Jong-un, who was appointed to his one and only post as CMC Vice Chairman. 496 In addition to Yun Jong-rin, several other members of the internal security apparatus received appointments to key Party bodies. Chu Sang-song, Minister of People’s Security, was appointed a member of the Politburo. U Tong-chuk, First Vice Director of the SSD, and Kim Chang-sop, Director of the SSD Political Bureau, were appointed alternate members of the Politburo. 497 U Tong-chuk, Kim Won-hong, Commander of the MSC, and Kim Kyong-ok, First Vice Director of the KWP OGD, were appointed members of the KWP CMC. Essentially, the five parts that make up the Praetorian Guard apparatus (GC, MPS, SSD, OGD, and MSC) were included in the promotions associated with the very beginnings of the Kim Jong-un era. At this point in its development, Kim Jong-un’s apparatus was not completely independent. It was tied to his father’s apparatus of power, as well as that of Jang Song-taek’s KWP Administrative Department, which had formal oversight of the SSD and MPS. As the chart below reveals, the foundation for a dual system of internal security was well established before Kim Jong-il’s death. Chart 14: Command and Control of the Internal Security Apparatus OGD Direct Oversight Supreme Leader (Kim Jong-il) Direct Report KWP Administrative Department Jang Song-taek (Control Tower) Direct Oversight Kim Jong-un (Heir Apparent) MPS SSD Direct Oversight CMC Guard Command MSC Kim Jong-un’s relationships Kim Jong-il’s relationships 495 “Members, Alternate Members of Central Committee, WPK,” KCNA, September 28, 2010. Yun Jong-rin and Kim Song-tok were made members of the KWP Central Committee at the Third Party Conference. 496 “Central Military Commission of WPK Organized,” KCNA, September 28, 2010. 497 Kim Pyong-hae, a former official in the OGD, was appointed an alternate member of the Politburo, Secretary for Personnel Affairs, and Director of the KWP Cadre Affairs Department. Ken E. Gause 223
In the months following the Party conference, Kim Jong-il began to focus on ensuring the long-term survival of his heir. Since Kim Jong-il’s stroke in 2008, it was widely speculated that any collective leadership that was built around Kim Jong-un would be unstable at best and most likely would relegate the heir apparent to a figurehead. To ensure that this could not happen, Kim Jong-il began to realign the loyalties within the internal security apparatus to make it more difficult for any other member of the senior North Korean leadership to assume more power than his own chosen successor. The first step of this strategy took place in January 2011 with the dismissal and alleged execution of Ryu Kyong, the SSD’s Vice Director and Chief of Bureau 2 (Counter-espionage Bureau). Ryu oversaw approximately 50,000 counterintelligence agents dedicated to identifying spies and dissidents within the regime. His close ties to Kim Jong-il and his growing power were reflected in his promotion to colonel general on the eve of the Third Party Conference. His rising status, however, made him a natural rival of both Jang Song-taek and U Tong-chuk. In addition, his pervasive presence within the secret police apparatus reportedly made it difficult to carve out a role for Kim Jong-un, who became increasingly tied to the organization. According to sources inside North Korea, Ryu was summoned to one of Kim Jong-il’s residences, where he was arrested by the GC. He was later interrogated and secretly executed. 498 His removal was followed by the purge of over 100 SSD personnel. While some sources suggested that Ryu was removed for “being a double agent,” the more likely cause was probably tied to succession politics. Senior defector sources in South Korea suggest that Ryu’s sacrifice might have been tied to Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un’s efforts to secure U Tong-chuk’s loyalty and support. 499 If this speculation is true, it contradicted the general consensus at the time among Pyongyang-watchers that U Tong-chuk belonged to Jang Song-taek’s patronage network. 500 While he no doubt reported up to Jang in the formal chain of command, U was also in a position to serve as a counterweight to Jang’s power within the security apparatus or, at the least, to provide the heir apparent with situational awareness of his uncle’s activities. In 2011, both Kim Jong-un and U Tong-chuk were featured prominently in SSD-related events profiled in North Korean media. On April 15, 2011, Kim 498 “Exclusive: DPRK Security Head Ryu Kyong Purged,” NKChosun.com, May 20, 2011. 499 Author’s discussions in Seoul in May 2011. According to defector sources, while the GC carried out the arrest, U Tong-chuk oversaw the operation. These same sources contend that U had “recently shifted his complete support to Kim Jong-un.” 500 Many South Korean and Chinese Pyongyang-watchers placed U Tong-chuk in Jang Songtaek’s patronage network as late as 2010. They based this assessment on defector accounts and U’s rise in prominence after Jang’s return from exile in 2007. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea 224
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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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Supreme Command apparatus to the GS
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. Secretarial Office of the Central
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from the field commands, as well as
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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
Page 195 and 196: According to a former diplomat who
Page 197 and 198: National Intelligence Service (NIS)
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Page 205 and 206: General Trading Corporation, then a
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Page 211 and 212: Jang’s Channel to China The Korea
Page 213 and 214: Chart 10: Jang’s Channel into the
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Page 219 and 220: leadership dynamics inside North Ko
Page 221 and 222: • The KWP Administrative Departme
Page 223 and 224: • Tourism represents a growing so
Page 225 and 226: Chart 12: Jang’s Tapping into Mil
Page 227 and 228: In addition to these reforms, Kim J
Page 229 and 230: Despite the regime’s efforts to s
Page 231: Night of the Long Knives. Saddam Hu
Page 235 and 236: According to South Korean sources,
Page 237 and 238: In April 2012, the regime made a nu
Page 239 and 240: National Security Meeting, January
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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 271 and 272: • The Eighth Bureau (Border Secur
Page 275 and 276: d. Ministry of People’s Security
Page 277 and 278: chain of command and is responsible
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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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