North Korea WPK reshuffling shows few surprises

Posted on : 2012-04-13 12:33 KST Modified on : 2012-04-13 12:33 KST
At 62, Choi Ryong-hae is a relatively young, rising force in the administration
 first secretary of North Korean Workers’ Party
first secretary of North Korean Workers’ Party

By Kim Kyu-won, staff writer

As expected, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, 30, took on the positions of Workers’ Party (KWP) of Korea standing committee member and Central Military Commission (CMC) chairman at the fourth party representatives’ meeting Wednesday.

With this, Kim assumes becomes the official leader of the country following the December death of his father Kim Jong-il. The process unfolded as expected, with the exception of Kim Jong-un’s receiving the new supreme title of “first secretary” rather than inheriting his father’s position of general secretary, a title Kim Jong-il will hold permanently.

Attention now is focusing on how the position of National Defense Commission chairman will be addressed at a Friday session of the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA). Given that the WPK commands the people, government, and military in North Korea, Kim Jong-un appears to have all the highest posts needed to proceed with governing as first secretary.

Aside from Kim’s election as first secretary, the most noteworthy development was the rapid ascendance of Choi Ryong-hae as director of the general political bureau, considered the actual top position in the military. Choi’s move to the fore was impressive enough to have some observers calling the representatives’ meeting a veritable coming-out party for Choi alongside the newly crowned first secretary.

Choi Ryong-hae
Choi Ryong-hae

Choi, who received the title of People’s Army vice marshal on Apr. 7, joined the WPK standing committee with Kim Jong-un at the latest representatives’ meeting. He also took over as vice chairman of the party‘s CMC, a position left vacant when Kim became the commission’s chairman.

Analysts said the 62-year-old Choi’s placement on the standing committee may be viewed as somewhat unusual, as its posts have traditionally been held by veterans such as 84-year-old SPA standing committee chairman Kim Yong-nam, 82-year-old prime minister Choe Young-rim, and 70-year-old Chief of General Staff Ri Yong-ho.

Experts ventured a number of conjectures about the factors behind Choi’s selection, most notably his background. Born in 1950, he is the second son of former Minister of People’s Armed Forces Choi Hyon, who fought against Japan alongside Kim Il-sung.

“Choi Ryong-hae grew up close to Kim Jong-il and is known to have been like a brother to him,” a Unification Ministry official said.

Choi is also known to be a confidant of WPK vice chairman Jang Sung-thaek, Kim Jong-un’s uncle and adviser. He was dismissed as first secretary of the Kim Il-sung Socialist Youth League and demoted to party secretary for the Pyongyang waterworks in 1998 over involvement in a case of corruption, but was subsequently reinstated in August 2003 as deputy director of the WPK general affairs department, a vice minister-level position.

He left his post once again when Jang was suspended in early 2004 for “factional activities,” but made a comeback in 2006 as the party’s chief secretary for North Hwanghae Province with the help of Jang, who had returned as head of the party’s administrative department.

Choi received the title of People’s Army general alongside Kim Jong-un and Kim Kyong-hui in September 2010 and went on to experience a swift rise as a key figure in the Kim Jong-un regime, receiving the positions of party secretary for labor groups, CMC member, politburo candidate member, and central party committee member at the third party representatives’ meeting later that year.

Kim Jong-un’s relative youth is another key factor in Choi’s ascendance. Choi, 62, is the youngest standing committee member after Kim, with the other three all in their seventies or eighties.

“It appears he may have been picked as a relatively young figure capable to embodying the new era symbolized by a young leader who is just 30 years old,” said University of North Korean Studies professor Yang Mu-jin.

Also selected as politburo members at the latest meeting were Minister of People’s Armed Forces Kim Jong-gak and first deputy minister Hyon Chol-hae, Jang Sung-thaek, party secretary Pak To-chun, State Security Department chief Kim Won-hong, and NDC administrative bureau director Ri Myong-su. KWP department director Kim Kyong-hui and South Hamgyong Province chief secretary Kwak Bom-gi were named party secretaries, while Hyon, Ri, and Kim Nak-kyom were elected to the CMC.

Inje University professor Kim Yeon-chul said, “It looks like almost all the major appointments were made at the third party representatives’ meeting in 2010, so there weren’t any major changes this time apart from the rise of Choi Ryong-hae.”

 

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