North Korean House of Cards

the Director of the MAD, O supervises reserve forces, including the
four million-strong Worker-Peasant Red Guards. Pyongyang-watchers
believe that O managed to get promoted thanks to his late father’s
influence, although he was a schoolmate of Kim Jong-il’s exiled
half-brother, Kim Pyong-il, North Korea’s Ambassador to the Czech
Republic. 710 His access to senior leadership early in the Kim Jong-un
era likely stemmed from Choe Ryong-hae, who was the KWP Secretary
for Military Affairs at the time. However, more recently, his ties to
Kim Jong-un appear to be more direct, as he is a frequent cohort on
Kim’s guidance inspections. He was ranked 26th on Jon Pyong-ho’s
Funeral Committee list, up seven spots from Kim Kuk-tae’s Funeral
Committee list.
• Ri Jae-il (80) is the First Vice Director of the KWP PAD. He came to
the public’s attention in 2005 when he began to appear on guidance
inspections with Kim Jong-il. He was rumored to be close to the Kim
family and may have had ties to Kim Jong-il’s Personal Secretariat.
Ri was one of a group of core elites who laid the foundations for the
succession, and he played a major role in constructing the public
legitimacy campaign around Kim Jong-un. He was ranked 120th
on Kim Jong-il’s Funeral Committee list. His position jumped to
38th and then to 33rd on Kim Kuk-tae’s and Jon Pyong-ho’s Funeral
Committee list respectively.
• O Su-yong (71) is the KWP Secretary for Light Industry and
Chairman of the SPA Budget Committee. 711 A former Party Secretary
for North Hamgyong Province, O is a technocrat. Before moving into
the Party apparatus, he was Vice Premier and Minister of Electronic
Industry. He also worked in the Ministry of Metal Industry and the
Ministry of Machine Building Industries. His ties to the Kim family
are vague at best, surprising since he succeeded Kim Kyong-hui in his
current position. His formal rank within the leadership rose dramatically
from 47th on Kim Kuk-tae’s Funeral Committee list to 19th on
Jon Pyong-ho’s Funeral Committee list.
710 “N.Korea Promotes Power Elite Ahead of Anniversary,” The Chosun Ilbo, April 14, 2011. Kim
Pyong-il was transferred to the Czech Republic in 2015 after spending 17 years as Ambassador to Poland.
See “Late N.K. Leader’s Half Brother Named Ambassador To Czech Republic,” Yonhap News Agency,
January 21, 2015.
711 According to one South Korean source, O Su-yong was appointed an alternate member of the
Politburo in April 2014.
Ken E. Gause
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