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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stands next to Hwang Pyong-so

During a briefing on Nov. 20, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) told the National Assembly’s National Intelligence Committee that there were reports indicating that North Korea was carrying out a political audit of the General Political Bureau of the North Korean People’s Army, the first such audit in 20 years. As part of the audit, the NIS said, the regime had punished Vice Marshal Hwang Pyong-so, whose position as head of the bureau gives him authority over military appointments.

“We have received intelligence that Choe Ryong-hae [vice chair of the central committee of the North Korean Workers’ Party] is leading a political audit of the General Political Bureau for the first time in 20 years after taking issue with its ‘impure attitude’ toward the party. Our intelligence also indicates that political officers in the General Political Bureau, including Director Hwang Pyong-so and First Vice Director Kim Won-hong, have been punished,” the NIS said during its briefing to the National Intelligence Committee on trends in North Korea.

Vice Marshal in the Korean People’s Army

These remarks were quoted in a press briefing by Kim Byeong-gi, a lawmaker with the Democratic Party and the party’s senior member on the committee. Hwang, who attended the closing ceremony of the 2014 Asia Games in Incheon, is an extremely powerful figure in North Korea who oversees personnel decisions in the military and political and ideological affairs. He was one of the four people in a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un filmed for a report on Korean Central Television shortly after North Korea’s sixth nuclear test this past September.

“North Korea is considering the option of launching a ballistic missile before the end of the year, ostensibly for the purpose of the peaceful development of space but actually to improve its missile performance and enhance its threat against the US,” the NIS also reported to the committee. In addition, the NIS addressed the possibility of the North carrying out another nuclear test in its briefing: “We have not detected any signs of an imminent nuclear test at Punggye Village, but we believe that a nuclear test can be carried out at any time, if so ordered by Kim Jong-un. The second tunnel at the Punggye Village nuclear test site is abandoned, the third tunnel is always capable of holding a nuclear test, and construction has recently resumed on the fourth tunnel.”

By Song Ho-jin, staff reporter

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