Yesterday saw the arrest of two spies in Seoul. The two, who had apparently been sent to South Korea to assassinate Hwang Jang Yop, President of Committee for Democratization of North Korea, were found to be agents working under North Korea’s “General Bureau of Reconnaissance.” This revelation is leading to speculation that the status of the General Bureau is now higher than that of the United Front Department of the Korean Workers’ Party, which has traditionally dealt with negotiations and maneuvers related to South Korea.
Attention is also focusing on the General Bureau now more than ever since it has been suggested that it was involved in the Cheonan tragedy.
The General Bureau emerged from the combining of the Operations Department of the North Korean Workers’ Party (which is in charge of espionage infiltration), the No. 35 Department (in charge of operations against South Korean), and the Reconnaissance Bureau of the National Defense Commission sometime in early 2009.
It apparently consists of six bureaus: No. 1 deals with the training of spies; No. 2 deals with assassinations and kidnappings, No.3 deals with the development of equipment, while No.5 deals with South Korean and overseas information gathering. The specifics of No. 4 are yet to be confirmed.
At the time of the merger, analysts suggested that the role of the General Bureau, with its focus on intelligence and infiltration, had risen in political importance above that of the United Front Department, which deals with communication between the authorities of the two Koreas.
The United Front Department has been handling tasks related to South Korea since it was established in 1977. Its main tasks are propagandist; broadcasts into South Korea, the distribution of pro-North Korea literature, winning the hearts and minds of overseas Koreans, and the management of pro-North Korea organizations inside South Korea.
Kim Yang Gun, allegedly one of Kim Jong Il’s closest confidants, was appointed director of the United Front Department in 2007, an appointment which was assumed to imply that the status of the organization was on the up. As if to prove that point, Kim Yang Gun accompanied Kim Jong Il to the 2nd Inter-Korean Summit in 2007, and when former President Kim Dae Jung passed away it was Kim Yang Gun who visited Seoul as the leader of the North Korean delegation for face-to-face talks with President Lee Myung Bak.
However, as inter-Korean stagnation has lengthened and discussion of a 3rd Inter-Korean Summit has slipped off the radar, North Korea’s national interests, notably the resumption of Mt. Geumgang tours, have progressed exceedingly slowly, if at all. Thus, experts suspect that North Korea eventually decided to revise its South Korea policy away from one of seeking dialogue to one of promoting internal unity by cultivating tension between the two Koreas and inducing conflict in South Korea itself.
Cheong Seong Chang, a Senior Research Fellow at Sejong Institute, is one such expert. In a phone interview with the Daily NK on April 21st, he explained, “The strengthening of the General Bureau of Reconnaissance represents the political incorporation of stagnant inter-Korean relations into decision making.”
“North Korea has considered the negative effect of leaflets sent by South Korean NGOs since 2008, and is now taking an aggressive attitude towards South Korea based on the idea that they cannot stick to a defensive posture any longer,” he added.
Cheong went on, “North Korea is facing a situation where South Korea’s infiltration and maneuvers departments, which had been stripped of influence, are emerging again.”
Currently, the General Bureau of Reconnaissance seems to have taken command of South Korea policy. Major General Kim Young Cheol, the 64-year old chief of the General Bureau, is known to be another very close confidant of Kim Jong Il, and is also known to be playing an active part in the establishment of the Kim Jong Eun succession system.
Major General Kim has been participating in North-South Korean high-level talks since 1990. He led the North Korean representatives at such talks in 2006~2007, and is known for his strident rhetoric.
For example, at the aforementioned talks he asserted, “The Northern Limit Line (NLL) is a line drawn by a thief.”
He has continually made other tough remarks, including, in 2008, “North Korea can live without the Kaesong Industrial Complex,” and, “Do not even imagine the collapse of North Korean system.”
According to the confessions of the arrested spies, Major General Kim directly instructed them to assassinate Hwang Jang Yop.
In addition to the chief of the new bureau, further focus is on who the main controlling officers are. Bearing in mind its apparent power, it is probable that National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong Il is in overall control, while it is suspected that Oh Keuk Ryul, vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, manages operations.
To which, Cheong added a clarification, “Media reports have suggested that the General Bureau of Reconnaissance is under the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces, however, in fact, it should be viewed as an organization directly under the National Defense Commission.”
He explained, “The former Operations Department of the Central Committee of the Party has been incorporated into the General Bureau of Reconnaissance, and Oh Keuk Ryul, who used to be the head of the Operations Department, is currently a vice chairman of the National Defense Commission. Also, Kim Young Choon, a former head of the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces, is another vice chairman of the National Defense Commission. If the General Bureau of Reconnaissance is under the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces, it means that Oh Keuk Ryul is under Kim Young Choon. This does not make administrative sense in the North Korean power structure.”
Meanwhile, Cheong cautioned against assuming a role for Kim Jong Eun in the General Bureau, explaining, “The possibility of a connection to Kim Jong Eun cannot be excluded entirely, however, it should not be blown out of proportion. Kim Jong Eun is said to favor state of the art methods such as using IT in the field of information gathering, but the General Bureau of Reconnaissance mainly employs old-fashioned methods.”
