North Korean House of Cards

present for Kim Jong-un’s guidance of two KPA artillery-firing exercises
in April 2014.
• Lieutenant General Kim Yong-bok is the commander of the 11th
Corps (aka “Storm Corps”). He made his first public appearance
with Kim Jong-un in December 2014 at a multiple-launch rocket
[MRL] drill, although in an unnamed capacity. 726 He was identified
as the 11th Corps Commander when he attended and spoke at a
meeting commemorating late leader Kim Jong-il’s birth anniversary
at Kumsusan Memorial Palace of the Sun on February 13, 2015. The
11th Corps is a special warfare command in nature but is much bigger
and more diverse in the range of its mission. Experts estimate that
it has a force size of 40,000 to 80,000. It has some 10 brigades under
its command, including a light infantry brigade called “Lightning,” a
combat air command called “Thunder,” and a sniper brigade called
“Thunderbolt.” 727 Kim Yong-bok’s formal chain of command runs
through the General Staff, although he most likely also has a line of
communication to O Kuk-ryol, who retains responsibility for crisis
operations within the NDC. Kim Yong-bok replaced Colonel General
Choe Kyong-song, who has not been seen in public since October
2013, when he accompanied Kim Jong-un to a visit to the Kumsusan
Memorial Palace. 728
• Lieutenant General Kim Rak-gyom has been a member of the CMC
and Commander of the SRF since 2012. Kim emerged very quickly
on the leadership scene in 2012, replacing Choe Sang-ryeo, who had
overseen the transformation of the Missile Command into the SRF in
2011. At the Fourth Party Conference, Kim Rak-gyom was the only
lieutenant general to be elected to the Party’s CMC, a move which
reflected the importance of the command within the armed forces,
something made apparent with Kim Jong-un’s speech on April 15th to
the “bold soldiers of the People’s Army, Navy, Air Force and Strategic
726 “Kim Jong Un Guides Multiple-Rocket Launching Drill; No Date Given,” KCNA, December
29, 2014.
727 Lee Yong-Su, “Kim Jong-un’s Right-Hand Man? ‘Storm Corps’ Unveiled” The Chosun Ilbo,
December 14, 2011.
728 The rumors of change of command of the 11th Corps stretch back to 2014. It is not clear
if Choe, who has personal ties to the Kim family, has migrated to another senior military position, has
been sent away for temporary revolutionary education, or has been dismissed entirely. It is also not clear
whether he retains his position on the CMC to which he was appointed at the Third Party Conference in
2010. See Michael Madden, “New KPA Special Operations Forces Commander,” North Korean Leadership
Watch, February 15, 2015.
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