North Korean House of Cards

presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter when they visited Pyongyang
in 2009 and 2010 to negotiate the release of U.S. citizens. He was
one of the officials sitting around the table in the January 25, 2013
photograph of the national security meeting. While he presumably has
formal meetings with Kim Jong-un, it is probably not one-on-one, but
in concert with Kang Sok-ju. 732 He did not appear on Jon Pyong-ho’s
Funeral Committee list.
• Kim Chun-sop is a member of the National Defense Commission
since 2015. He was first mentioned in the North Korean press in 1999
when Jon Pyong-ho put forth his name as a candidate for deputy to
provincial (municipal), city (district), and county people’s assemblies. At
the time, Kim was a rolling steel worker at the Songjin Steel Complex. 733
He next appeared on the eve of the Third Party Conference (2010)
when he gave a speech proposing the election of leader Kim Jong-il
as delegate to the party conference. He was identified as the Secretary
of Jagang Provincial Committee. 734 This speech no doubt marked him
as a rising figure within the party and tied him to a part of the country
linked to the defense industrial complex. He first accompanied Kim
Jong-un on a guidance inspection of the Kanggye Precision Machine
plant in 2013 in his capacity as Party Secretary of the Jagang Province.
He spoke at an enlarged meeting of the Politburo in February 2015
before assuming membership on the National Defense Commission
at the SPA meeting in April 2015. 735 Although Kim replaced Pak
To-chun on the NDC, it is not clear if he has also assumed his role as
Party Secretary for Defense Industry.
• Ki Kwang-ho is the Minister of Finance since 2015 and Chairman
of the Figure Skating Association. He first appeared in the North
Korean media in 2007 as North Korea’s special envoy in the talks on
the Banco Delta Asia (BDA) issue with the United States. In 2012,
Ki was identified as a Vice Minister of Finance and led negotiations
732 Kenneth E. Gause, “The North Korean Leadership: System Dynamics and Fault Lines,” in
North Korean Policy Elites, (Alexandria, VA: Institute for Defense Analysis Paper P-3903, June 2004). Kim
Kye-gwan’s relations with the Kim family are somewhat suspect. His wife served as a translator for Kim
Song-ae, Kim Il-sung’s second wife, and this allegedly undermined his standing with Kim Jong-il.
733 “Leading Party, State Officials Cast Votes,” KCNA, March 7, 1999.
734 “DPRK Party Organ on Jagang, Yanggang Provincial Meetings for WPK Conference,” KCNA,
September 3, 2010.
735 At the time of his appointment to the NDC, Kim Chun-sop ranked 79th in the formal
leadership rankings. “North Korean Power Politics: Kim Jong-un’s Machiavellian Musical Chairs,” Nikkei
Asian Review, April 13, 2015.
Ken E. Gause
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