The Chosun Ilbo reported today that South Korean intelligence authorities have collected three types of evidence which they conclude back the idea that North Korea’s General Bureau of Reconnaissance organized the sinking of the Cheonan.
Based on intelligence assessments, these same authorities actually presumed back at the time of the Cheonan incident in late March that it was likely to have been led by the newly formed General Bureau.
In February of last year, when Kim Jong Il reinforced the National Defense Commission, he moved Oh Keuk Ryul, the general manager of all affairs connected to South Korea, to vice-chairman and established the General Bureau of Reconnaissance under Oh’s command. Major General Kim Young Cheol was made director of the General Bureau under Oh.
The reason why North Korea adds the word “General” to department names is because a so-named department covers all duties in the relevant sector, regardless of whether or not the activity in question is technically the work of Party, military or Cabinet. For instance, when the Escort Bureau in charge of guarding Kim Jong Il was expanded and reformed to become the General Escort Bureau in 1976, every piece of escort work the Party, military or any other organization engaged in became the General Bureau’s obligation.
The General Bureau of Reconnaissance which Oh was placed at the head of is a gigantic organization, the result of a merger between the former Reconnaissance Bureau, the Operations Department, of which Oh was formerly in charge, and the No. 35 Office, which previously carried out overseas spy and international terrorist operations.
The former Reconnaissance Bureau of the People’s Army was a professional team charged with military provocations. It was responsible for several attacks along South Korea’s east coast at Uljin and Samcheok in 1968, not to mention the attempted assassination of Park Chung Hee in Seoul during the same year.
The former Operations Department assisted spies infiltrating South Korea or Japan and delivered missiles or other military equipment to parts of Asia for illegal operations.
The former No. 35 Office was responsible for overseas operations. It was the base of Kim Hyun Hee, who was responsible for the KAL Flight 858 terror attack of 1987.
This reorganization of the system therefore implies a directional change in Kim’s strategy towards South Korea, and it is a shift to a more aggressive stance. Combining the Reconnaissance Bureau of the People’s Army with the Operations Department and the No. 35 Office of the Central Committee unifies spy operations, undercover and direct military attacks in one office.
The North’s most recent provocations, such as its attempt to assassinate Hwang Jang Yop and the Cheonan incident, are likely the result of this new strategy against South Korea, the manifestation of which can be seen in the appearance and rising importance of the General Bureau of Reconnaissance.
In the past, the reconnaissance tasks of Party and military were divided, but now all intelligence and undercover tasks vis a vis South Korea are the work of the General Bureau. Hereafter, we should assume that the ways and means of military provocation will increase.
