North Korean House of Cards

of the Kim Jong-il era. 568 A close reading of the shifts and turns of the leadership
since 2014 would suggest that this view is likely flawed. While it is true that some
leaders with ties to the OGD, such as Hwang Pyong-so, have flourished, others,
such as Kim Kyong-ok, have disappeared and their fates are unknown. As such,
the argument that the OGD continues to play a central role in surveilling and
protecting the regime is likely true, but the view that it is a unified force driven by a
Machiavellian grand plan is probably an overstatement. The contention that it acts
outside of the purview and interest of the Supreme Leader is almost certainly false.
b. Guard Command
The GC (Ho-wi Sa-ryeong-bu), which is also referred to as the Bodyguard
Command, is responsible for the safety and welfare of Kim Jong-un, his family, and
senior North Korean officials. 569 Its origins begin in 1946, when elements of the 90th
Training Command were made responsible for providing security for North Korea’s
emerging leadership. It has been restructured several times. 570 Since the 1990s, it has
been growing in importance as the center of the regime’s Praetorian Guard. 571
The GC numbers close to 100,000 personnel dispersed across the country
in a number of battalions, regiments, and brigades. 572 In addition to providing for
the personal security of Kim Jong-un and other high-ranking officials, it conducts
surveillance on high-ranking political and military officials. It also shares responsibility
for the defense of the capital with the Pyongyang Defense Command and the
568 This is the view most closely associated with New Focus International and perpetuated by
Jang Jin-sung in his book Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee—A Look Inside North Korea (New York: Atria
Books, 2014).
569 The GC has also been referred to over its history as the General Guard Command and the
General Guard Bureau.
570 The origin of the GC was the Bodyguard Regiment, which was organized to protect Kim
Il-sung, who entered Pyongyang with the Soviet Union’s military forces right after the 1945 liberation
of Korea. The regiment was mainly composed of anti-Japanese partisans, and its Commander was Senior
Colonel Kang Sang-ho. After the Korean War, the guard regiment protecting Kim Il-sung became the
Bodyguard Office. Its first Director was O Paek-ryong. In 1965, the office was redesignated the General
Guard Bureau, with Colonel General O Paek-ryong remaining as the Bureau Chief. Three years later, in
conjunction with Kim Il-sung’s purge of the military, O Paek-ryong retired and was replaced by Colonel
General Chon Mun-sop. In the late 1970s, the General Guard Bureau was redesignated as the Guard
Command. Marshal Ri Ul-sol was appointed Commander in 1984 and remained in the post until 2004,
when he was succeeded by Yun Jong-rin.
571 According to some sources, Kim Jong-il began to place more emphasis on the GC following
the execution of Romanian President Ceausescu in 1989.
572 The members of the Guard Command are chosen by Bureau 5 of the KWP OGD, where they
go through a rigorous background check that extends to six levels of their family tree. Once chosen, the
member is separated from society and his activities outside the GC are highly restricted. Officers in the GC
are educated in a three-year program provided by a branch campus of Kim Il-sung Higher Party School.
Ken E. Gause
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