North Korean House of Cards

contributing to “socialist powerful state construction.” 646 Three years
later in 2005, he was identified publicly as Vice Director of the KWP
Central Committee, presumably as part of the OGD, and began
to accompany Kim Jong-il on guidance inspections. In the period
between 2007 and 2010, some Pyongyang-watchers believe Hwang
began to work with Kim Jong-un to prepare him for elevation to heir
apparent. 647 At the Third Party Conference in 2010, he was appointed
an alternate member of the Central Committee. He was promoted to
a three-star General in 2011 and was ranked 124th on Kim Jong-il’s
Funeral Committee list. Based on his public appearances with both
Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un, Hwang Pyong-so’s portfolio appears to
be tied to the regime’s security organizations. He attended a joint Kim
Jong-il and Kim Jong-un field inspection of the Guard Command’s
headquarters at KPA Unit 963 in 2011, and he was prominently
seen in state media coverage of Kim Jong-un’s inspection of the KPA
Strategic Rocket Force (SRF) Command in 2012. 648 He appeared as a
first vice director of the KWP OGD in March 2014. The next month,
he was promoted to a four-star general and appointed to the KWP
CMC, preparing the path for his appointment as Director of the GPB
on April 28. 2014. At the SPA meeting in September 2014, he was
appointed Vice Chairman of the NDC, replacing Choe Ryong-hae.
In April 2015, the North Korean media identified him as a member
of the Politburo Presidium. 649 He was ranked sixth on Jon Pyong-ho’s
Funeral Committee list. Hwang Pyong-so’s rapid promotion suggests
that he has become one of Kim Jong-un’s most trusted advisors. 650 His
background in security affairs in the OGD has been most useful in his
oversight of the military.
646 In this period, he assisted Ko Yong-hui in laying the foundation for succession.
647 Michael Madden, “Biography of Hwang Pyong-so,” North Korea Leadership Watch, September
14, 2012.
648 Ibid.
649 On April 8, 2015, Pyongyang radio and television referred to Hwang Pyong-so as a “member
of the Presidium of the Politburo” as part of an event celebrating the 22nd anniversary of Kim Jong-il’s
election as chairman of the National Defense Commission. This followed Choe Ryong-hae’s removal from
the Presidium and demotion in status to just a full member of the Politburo in March 2015.
650 This is shown by the fact that he was part of a delegation, with Choe Ryong-hae and Kim
Yang-gon, that visited Seoul in October 2014 to try to restart inter-Korean relations. In August 2015,
Hwang Pyong-so and Kim Yang-gon participated in three days of tense negotiations with South Korean
interlocutors to defuse the tensions on the peninsula following the exchange of artillery fire across the
DMZ. On August 25, 2015, Hwang made a highly unusual television appearance to explain the outcome
of the high-level inter-Korean talks.
Ken E. Gause
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