North Korean House of Cards

XII. APPENDIX A: BIOGRAPHIES OF INNER
CIRCLES OF POWER AROUND KIM JONG-UN
A. KEY ADVISORS
The purge of Jang Song-taek and the dissolution of the regent structure
have increased the political space around Kim Jong-un, which has been filled
by a handful of rising individuals. Best described as key advisors, these leaders
often accompany the Supreme Leader. In addition to their formal positions, they
most likely enjoy further influence by virtue of their proximity. This influence
sometimes manifests when they are ranked above their cohorts on recent funeral
committee lists, which Pyongyang-watchers use to identify the formal leadership
ranking within the regime. 640
Ironically, it is at this level where much of the turmoil within the leadership
ranks occurred in 2015. In February, the international media claimed that Pyon
In-son, chief of the General Staff’s Operations Bureau was purged, allegedly for disregarding
or taking exception to Kim Jong-un’s orders. 641, 642 This was not confirmed
in the North Korean press other than he no longer highlighted as being part of Kim
Jong-un’s retinue during guidance inspections. In May 2015, the NIS claimed that
it had intelligence that Hyon Yong-chol, the Minister of People’s Armed Forces, 643
640 The question many Pyongyang-watchers struggle with is whether any of these advisors impact
policy or doctrine development or are irrelevant to the policymaking process. In other words, do they
matter? In some cases, long-term advisors on critical policy areas, such as Kang Sok-ju, probably play a
role in providing context and critical advice. Others, especially powerbrokers in the military and security
apparatus, are less relevant to policymaking and, as such, more interchangeable in the balance of power
inside the regime.
641 Col. Gen. Pyon In-son (69) was Director of the GSD Operations Bureau. He was part of the
third generation of the military leadership. He was also a member of the KWP Central Committee and
deputy to the SPA. He was promoted to Colonel General on 25 July 2003.
Pyon’s career was spent moving between Pyongyang and the field commands. His early career
was primarily served in headquarters in the MPAF before he assumed the command of the Seventh Army
Corps in South Hamgyong Province in the late 1990s. In 2007, he returned to Pyongyang as a Vice
Minister of the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces. Four years later, he was returned to the field as the
Commander of Fourth Army Corps in South Hwanghae Province. Following the March/April crisis, he
returned to the center as a Vice Minister of the People’s Armed Forces and Director of the General Staff
Operations Bureau (August 2013). He was ranked forty third on the Jon Pyong-ho funeral committee list.
642 “Unidentified South Korean Government Official Says DPRK Kim Jong Un ‘Removed’ Two
Aides,” NHK, February 4, 2015. The media also speculated that Ma Won-chun, the Director of NDC
Design Department, had also been purged. Later speculation said that he had either been executed or
died before he could return to Pyongyang. In October 2015, Ma was identified as a member of Kim
Jong-un’s guidance inspection trip to Rason to examine how the North Korean city was recovering from
Typhoon Goni.
643 Colonel General Hyon Yong-chol (66) was the Minister of People’s Armed Forces, an alter-
Ken E. Gause
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