It is becoming increasingly clear that those members of the North Korean military elite who either fail or are unable to take a leading role in the succession system are either retiring early or seeing their status get vastly reduced.
Cheong Seong Chang of the Sejong Institute explained the basis for this assertion at an academic conference on the 14th hosted by Seoul National University Institute for Peace and Unification, citing as examples the cases of former Minister of the People’s Armed Forces Kim Il Cheol and Vice Chairman of the National Defense Commission Oh Keuk Ryul, among others.
“Figures playing a passive role in the establishment of the Kim Jong Eun succession system are facing early resignation,” Cheong hypothesized, going on, “Typical cases of enforced early resignation include that of Kim Il Cheol. In February, 2009 he was demoted from Minister of the People’s Armed Force to 1st Vice Minister, and then in May of 2010 removed from all his duties apparently due to age.”
Cheong continued, “Vice Chairman of the National Defense Commission Oh Keuk Ryul suffered the humiliation of joining neither the Politburo nor the Central Military Commission at the 3rd Party Delegates’ Conference.”
Conversely, Cheong pointed out that some of those elite figures who are staying close to Kim Jong Eun are being promoted at a rate of knots. For example, 1st Vice Director of the National Security Agency Woo Dong Cheuk had barely finished polishing his colonel general’s stars obtained in April, 2009 when, in April of 2010, he became a full general.
Similarly, Hwang Byung Suh, Vice Director of the Guidance Department with responsibility for the military, and the head of the Civil Defense Department of the Central Committee, Oh Il Jung, were both also promoted very quickly, from lieutenant general in September, 2010 to colonel general in April, 2011.
Elsewhere, Kim Won Hong, formerly of Defense Security Command, was nominated to be Vice Director of the General Political Bureau Guidance Department in February of 2009 to support Kim Jong Eun’s attempts to seize control of the military. Not long after his promotion to general on April 14th, 2009, he was appointed to the Central Military Commission at the 3rd Party Delegates’ Conference on September 28th, 2010.
“Following the restructuring of the military command structure to help Kim Jong Eun take control of the military, in the second half of 2009 through Kim Won Hong, Kim Jong Eun was able to establish a system for the General Political Bureau and thus firmly control the military,” Cheong explained.
Cheong further asserted that he believes Kim Jong Eun is pulling the strings in the creation of the new elite leadership group through the Guidance Department of the Party Central Committee.
“Kim Jong Eun has not officially been elected as a Party secretary, but he is effectively the Guidance Secretary, second only to the General Secretary in terms of status. From the first half of 2009, Kim Jong Eun had already begun to have a hand in controlling the power elite figures through the Guidance Department of the Party Central Committee.”
The Central Military Commission, Cheong also concluded, functions as the main tool by which Kim Jong Eun secures military domination.
He explained, “The Party Central Military Commission, unlike in the past, rules over the military sector and leads national defense tasks on the behalf of the Party. By becoming Vice Chairman of this powerful organ Kim Jong Eun has the right to lead the military, the right to control personnel decisions vis high-level military cadres and the right to make military decisions and to perform day-to-day command and control of the military.”
