Choi Ryong-hae tumbles down North Korea’s power hierarchy

Posted on : 2014-05-06 13:35 KST Modified on : 2014-05-06 13:35 KST
Demotion of Choi is more evidence that leader Kim Jong-un is replacing old guard with younger figures he trusts more

By Choi Hyun-june, staff reporter

Choi Ryong-hae, 64, has been confirmed on May 3 to have been removed from his position as the Director of the General Political Bureau of the North Korean People’s Army and reassigned as a secretary of the Korean Worker’s Party (KWP), a much lower position. Choi had risen high when he became the Vice Chairman of the National Defense Commission at the beginning of April, second only to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The demotion could be part of Kim Jong-un’s efforts to replace the old guard with a younger generation.

Choi had been appointed Vice Chairman of the National Defense Commission during the first meeting of the 13th session of the Supreme People’s Assembly, on Apr. 9. The appointment meant that Choi held important positions in three of North Korea’s most powerful bodies (the Central Committee of the KWP, the Central Military Committee of the KWP, and the National Defense Commission), leading to the assessment that he had effectively become the leading figure in Kim Jong-un’s administration, following the purge of Jang Song-thaek, former director of the KWP Administrative Department.

But on May 1, only twenty days later, the position of Director of the General Political Bureau of Korean People’s Army was handed to Hwang Pyong-so, Senior Deputy Director of the KWP Organization Guidance Department, and two days later, reports confirmed that Choi had become a KWP secretary.

Choi’s ranking in the North Korean chain of command has dropped from second or third to around tenth. While Choi’s new position is an important one that will keep him involved in government decision making, he is one of nine other KWP secretaries with the same rank. Furthermore, he is believed to have become the secretary in charge of labor organizations, which is not a key position within the KWP secretariat, more evidence that he is now only one of the top twenty North Korean officials.

Choi may have been stripped of his powerful position because he was categorized as part of the old guard, the children of the guerillas who fought the Japanese imperial forces. In place of people like Choi, a new group of figures, including Hwang Pyong-so, have been coming to power since Kim Jong-un replaced his late father Kim Jong-il as leader of the country.

“Choi Ryong-hae came to power under Kim Jong-il,” said Chang Yong-seok, senior researcher at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University. “With the growing clout of Hwang Pyong-so and other officials in the KWP Organization Guidance Department who were behind the ouster of Jang Song-thaek, members of the older generation, including Jang and Choi, are being pushed aside.”

“Choi Ryong-hae’s health has deteriorated, rendering him incapable of actively carrying out his responsibilities as Director of the General Political Bureau of the North Korean People’s Army,” said Jeong Sung-jang, an adjunct professor at the University of North Korean Studies, explaining why Choi was reassigned as a KWP secretary and not completely removed from public service. “I expect that, by assigning Choe to the position of party secretary, which has a comparatively lighter workload, Kim means to keep him even closer to his side.”

But the decision to demote Choi only one month after promoting him could hint at the insecurity of Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s supreme leader.

“Considering that Kim Jong-un removed Choi Ryong-hae, who was his father’s man, and replaced him with Hwang Pyong-so, with whom he has a close relationship, it seems that Kim feels some doubts about the older generation,” said Chang Yong-seok.

Choi‘s fall could also affect North Korea’s relations with China. Jang Song-thaek had been regarded as the North’s closest link with China, and Choi had been dispatched to China as a special envoy in 2013.

 

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