The Ministry of People’s Security and DPRK Media Hit Back at Mein Kampf Allegations

Gifts office employees assist Kim Jong Un with a watch presentation ceremony held in Pyongyang in February 2013 (Photo: KCNA-Yonhap)

DPRK state media published two statements on 19 June (Wednesday) that lambasted and partially denied** an allegation that the country’s leader Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) distributed copies of  a translation of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s memoir-cum-manifesto Mein Kampf (My Struggle) along with other gifts to DPRK elites on Kim Jong Un’s birthday in January 2013.  New Focus International, citing DPRK sources in China and internal documents, reported on 17 June (Monday) that “to mark Kim Jong-un’s birthday on January 8th, DPRK officials ranked departmental director and above in the National Defence Committee were presented with the autobiography of Adolf Hitler in the form of a ‘hundred-copy book’ (This refers to a limited edition of translated books which are officially banned but have been published in secret for the consumption of members of the North Korean elite).”  NFI‘s report was disseminated, without any independent corroboration, in South Korean media and by  The Washington Post‘s WorldViews blog.   KCNA issued a commentary which described NFI‘s story as “sheer fabrication” and “false trumpeting by forces hostile to the DPRK”:

The Washington Post recently quoted an article allegedly carried by New Focus, media of human scum in south Korea, as saying that the DPRK presented Hitler’s memoir “My Struggle” to its officials and there is possibility of the DPRK mounting a campaign of learning after Hitler, which is sheer fabrication.

As known, New Focus is wicked media made up of human scum who fled to south Korea from the DPRK after betraying the nation and which is supported by the south Korean puppet group and ultra-right conservatives. It has carried a whole gamut of false reports slandering the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK and distorting the situation of socialism only to be cursed and censured by the public at home and abroad.

The group of such dirty men talked rubbish packaged in false information, a mockery of media whose basic mission is objectivity, impartiality and neutrality and an intolerable insult to human conscience.

This foolish act is aimed to tarnish the image of the DPRK and hurt the validity and invincibility of the Songun cause, being frightened by the might of the DPRK that arouses admiration and support from the world with time.
The U.S. media professing professional journalism carried the false report written by those rubbish betes noires for a few pennies, bringing shame to itself.

Fabricating false reports, away from elementary human conscience and ethics, and echoing them all disclose ignorance of the situation of the DPRK. It is a hysteric symptom of those who are frightened by the DPRK demonstrating its might as the world’s strongest political and ideological power and a nuclear weapons state and making leaping progress to bring prosperity.
No one will believe such a false report in the bright world of the 21st century.

The false trumpeting by forces hostile to the DPRK is a serious, politically-motivated provocation against it.

Just as it is impossible to smear the blue sky dark with dirty writing brush of falsity and machinations, the forces hostile to the DPRK can never undermine the validity of the Military-First (So’ngun) cause pioneered and led by the peerlessly great men nor can they keep the army and people of the DPRK from dynamically advancing toward victory, true to the new line on simultaneously pushing forward economic construction and the building of nuclear force.

New Focus International‘s original report on Kim Jong Un distributing Mein Kampf also alleged that Minister of People’s Security, Gen. Choe Pu Il, invoked one of Nazi Germany’s key internal security agencies the Geheime Staatspolizei (a.k.a The Gestapo), which was subordinate to the Schutzstaffel (a.k.a. The S.S.) during an undated speech to public security officials.  According to NFI Gen. Choe said, “We are equivalent to a police force. In other countries, people fear the police more than they fear the army. Stop focusing on ways to make money in the markets, and mould yourselves after the Gestapo. In the Kim Jong-un era, the Department of People’s Security is the most powerful department – be proud.”

Nazi leader Adolf Hitler (L) (1889-1945) with the head of his body guard, favorite chauffeur and former Reichführer-SS (1925-1926) Julius Schreck (R) (1898-1936)

Graphic of the key bureaus of the Ministry of the People’s Security (Graphic by Michael Madden/NK Leadership Watch).

The Ministry of People’s Security [MPS] released a “Special Press Statement” published and broadcasted on 19 June which alleged that South Korean President Park Geun-hye “and other incumbent puppet authorities are falsifying the human scum belonging to the malicious organizations of the escapees from the North into experts on North Korean affairs and using them as a front in an open smear campaign against us” because “they staged a burlesque of carrying in Yonhap News and The Washington Post even the escapees’ fabricated article saying that we had given to cadres as gifts copies of the book ‘My Struggle’ written by Hitler, and we are waging a campaign to learn from the experience gained in rebuilding Third Empire in Germany following the World War I.”  The MPS said that “from the beginning, our army and people have thought that talking about the escapees from the North itself is shame, while regarding them as herds of the starved wild dogs in human skin. . .however, we can neither overlook nor tolerate these ugly creatures removed from the rolls of human beings and expelled from the bright world, as they are recklessly slandering and hurling abuses at our dignity and system, while playing main roles in staging the burlesques of confrontation with the incumbent South Korean gang of puppets and the brigandish US imperialists under their protection and manipulations.”

The MPS attempted to further link NFI‘s report to the Park Administration saying “we do not want to further mention how difficult is the situation of the Park Geun-hye gang that is trying to confront us at any cost even by relying on these human rubbish and how pitiable is the politics of the United States that is trying to topple our system by using them” and that “no matter how desperately they make last-ditch efforts, gripped by extreme anxiety and fears, the trouble-ridden lives of the puppets cannot be prolonged, and the hostile policy of the United States toward the DPRK, which is to realize its goal of aggression through the puppets, too, cannot escape the fate of failure.”  The Ministry claimed that “our army and people are turning out, calling for eliminating as early as possible the human rubbish which are kicking up hysterical frenzies after being reduced to servants for confronting fellow countrymen, far from paying for their criminal past by death.  People in the hometowns where they lived and even their own flesh and blood as well are begging us every day to allow them to kill these human scum with their own hands.”  MPS also announced that “reflecting the rage of the millions of soldiers and people that is full in this land, has decided to take an actual action to physically eliminate the ugly human scum that are continuing to additionally commit high treason under the abetment of the incumbent puppet authorities and the brigandish United States.  The ugly human scum will never be able to look up to the sky by remaining alive nor be able to find even an inch of land to be buried after death.”  The MPS concluded its “special press announcement” saying that “the United States, the incumbent South Korean authorities, and the vicious conservative media that are tenaciously persisting in smear propaganda and criticisms against us by using them, too, will receive merciless showers of justice.”

According to KCNA, the MPS’ statement said:

The Ministry of People’s Security of the DPRK issued the following special statement Wednesday:

The DPRK, a country dignified with independence and powerful with Songun, is enjoying the greatest dignity with a bright prospect of socialism of Juche.

The world is looking enviously at the army and people of the DPRK dashing ahead toward the final victory in sight on the horizon at the “Masikryong Speed”. Meanwhile, the moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK on the part of the dishonest and hostile forces have faced bankruptcy.

A handful of human scum is moving desperately to deter this progress.

Park Geun Hye and other present puppet authorities of south Korea are openly putting to the fore human scum belonging to the organizations of die-hard defectors from the north, painting them as “experts in north Korean issue” and instigating stepped-up criticism.

On June 18, south Korea fed to Yonhap News and The Washington Post articles contributed by defectors saying that copies of book “My Struggle” authored by Hitler were presented to officials in the DPRK as gifts and campaign is now under way to learn from the experiences gained in rebuilding the “Third Empire” that existed in Germany after the First World War.

They even committed the thrice-cursed crime of belittling the matchless great personality of the leader of the DPRK reflected in his loving care for the future generations.

The army and people of the DPRK regard it as shame to make mention of defectors from the north, a group of wild dogs in human form.

The group of human scum marginalized in the bright world has become the main player in the confrontation farce under the patronage of the south Korean puppet group and brigandish U.S. imperialists. They even slandered and insulted the dignity and the social system of the DPRK, an act which can neither be overlooked nor tolerated.

By origin, defectors are human scum who were deserted even by home folks and kinsmen being branded as elements subject to legal punishment in the clean society in the DPRK for their crimes of murder, robbery, pilferage, embezzlement of state properties and corruptions.

South Koreans also know this.

But the south Korean authorities try to escalate confrontation with the DPRK by using them and the U.S. seeks to overthrow the social system in the DPRK in reliance on them. This proves the poor plight of the Park Geun Hye regime and the U.S. politics.

It is none other than the present puppet authorities of south Korea which seek to fan up confrontation wind despite their loud-mouthed ballad for “confidence” and “dialogue”. And it is the U.S. which moves overtly and covertly to topple the social system in the DPRK despite its stereo-typed call for peace and security on the Korean Peninsula.

No matter how desperately the puppet group of south Korea may try being gripped in extreme uneasiness and horror, they can never prolong their dirty remaining days. The U.S. which tries to attain its aggression aim in reliance on the group is bound to face bankruptcy in its hostile policy toward the DPRK.

The National Defence Commission of the DPRK on June 16 warned that all the future developments depend on the U.S. responsible option.

The army and people of the DPRK are strongly calling for punishing those human scum as early as possible as they are going hysteric as servants escalating confrontation with fellow countrymen, far from trying to redress their crime-woven past with death.

There are daily requests from home folks and kinsmen of those defectors for letting them kill human scum with their own hands.

The Ministry of People’s Security of the DPRK, reflecting the grudge of all its service personnel and people, is determined to take substantial measures to physically remove despicable human scum who are committing treasons at the instigation of the south Korean puppet authorities and the gangster-like U.S.

Sordid human scum will never be able to look up to the sky nor be able to find an inch of land to be buried after their death.

The U.S. and the south Korean authorities and wicked conservative media resorting to smear campaign against the DPRK in reliance on them will be made to meet merciless punishment of justice.

**Whether or not the DPRK denies the distribution of Mein Kampf in its two statements is a subjective interpretation.  New Focus International claims that the DPRK did not deny it had given copies of the book to senior cadres in its 19 June statements.  However, describing something as a “fabrication” and “false trumpeting” can be viewed as an indirect denial.

Chinese Vice President Attends Anniversary Reception at DPRK Embassy in Beijing

DPRK Embassy in Beijing (Photo: Google image)

DPRK state media reported that the DPRK Embassy in Beijing hosted a reception commemorating the 30th anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s “maiden visit” to China in 1983.  Attending the reception from the Chinese government were Vice President Li Yuanchao, Deputy Director of the Communist Party of China’s International Liaison Department Liu Jieyi and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin.  DPRK Ambassador to China Ji Jae Ryong and embassy personnel attended on behalf of the DPRK.  In his anniversary speech, according to KCNA, Ji Jae Ryong remarked “that the maiden visit to China by Kim Jong Il was a historic event which greatly contributed to putting on a new high stage the traditional DPRK-China friendship which was provided and cultivated by President Kim Il Sung together with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai and other leaders of the elder generation of China and stood all tests of history and to ensuring the peace and security in Northeast Asia and the rest of the world and advancing the human cause of independence against imperialism” and that “Kim Jong Un is paying deep attention to boosting the DPRK-China friendly relations true to the noble intention of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.”  Ji also said “we will as ever make joint efforts with Chinese comrades to steadily boost the traditional DPRK-China friendship.”

Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao (L) and DPRK Ambassador to the PRC Ji Jae Ryong (R) spoke at an anniversary reception commemorating Kim Jong Il’s 1983 visit to China held at the DPRK Embassy to China on 13 June 2013 (Photos: Xinhua and Yonhap)

According to KCNA, Li Yuanchao said in his speech that “Kim Jong Il worked heart and soul to develop the Korean revolution and construction and the traditional Sino-DPRK friendly relations and made important contributions” and “First Secretary Kim Jong Un in his recent personal letter sent to General Secretary Xi Jinping underlined the need to carry forward and develop the traditional Sino-DPRK friendly relations.”  Li also said “the Chinese party and government set great store by the Sino-DPRK friendly relations and the new collective leadership of the Communist Party of China will together with the party and government of the DPRK respect and trust each other and conduct friendly exchange and cooperation in the spirit of inheriting the tradition, facing up to the future, building good-neighborly friendship and strengthening cooperation and thus promote the development of the Sino-DPRK friendly relations and defend the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.”

The reception in Beijing followed a similar anniversary event hosted by the Korean Workers’ Party [KWP] Central Committee at the Koryo Hotel in Pyongyang on 4 June.  The Pyongyang reception commemorating the 30th anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s visit to China was attended by PRC Ambassador to the DPRK Liu Hongcai, PRC Embassy personnel and Chinese nationals and students working in the DPRK.  KWP Secretary and Director of the International Affairs Department [IAD] Kim Yong Il attended the reception on behalf of the DPRK, and was joined by officials from the IAD, the DPRK Foreign Ministry and the National Defense Commission.

Chinese Ambassador to the DPRK Liu Hongcai (L) and KWP International Affairs Secretary Kim Yong Il (R) spoke at an anniversary event commemorating Kim Jong Il’s 1983 visit to China, held at the Koryo Hotel in Pyongyang on 4 June 2013 (Photos: PRC Embassy in the DPRK, NKLW file photo).

In his speech Kim Yong Il said “Kim Jong Il’s visit to China in June 1983 marked a historic event of weighty significance in boosting the traditional DPRK-China friendship generation after generation” and “recalled that senior officials of the party and state of China enthusiastically welcomed Kim Jong Il, who paid a maiden visit to their country as most important state guest and accorded him cordial hospitality with all sincerity.”  Kim Yong Il also remarked that “Kim Jong Il, setting greatest store by the DPRK-China friendship provided by President Kim Il Sung, exerted great efforts to make the deeply rooted friendship flourish and develop.  It is the noble duty and obligation of the present generation to steadily boost the precious DPRK-China friendship associated with great efforts of the leaders of the elder generation of the two parties and countries.  The recent visit paid by a special envoy of Comrade Kim Jong Un to China marked an important occasion in steadily boosting the DPRK-China friendly relations, wealth common to the peoples of the two countries, as required by the new times.”  According to KCNA, Kim also said that “tt is the unshakable political stand of the WPK and the government of the DPRK to steadily develop the DPRK-China friendship, he said, stressing that the WPK would in the future, too, to boost with vitality and dynamism the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries.”

Chinese Ambassador to the DPRK Liu Hongcai, according to KCNA, said “General Secretary Kim Jong Il visited China several times to forge close relations with Chinese party and state leaders and worked heart and soul to boost the Sino-DPRK friendly and cooperative relations” and that “China and the DPRK are the friendly neighbors linked by the same mountain and rivers, he said, stressing that it is the consistent stand of the Chinese party and government to steadily develop the Sino-DPRK friendly relations.”  Liu also said “the Chinese side deems it important to invariably develop the Sino-DPRK friendly relations on a strategic height and from a long-term viewpoint” and Liu “underscored the need to further value the Sino-DPRK friendship, the precious common treasure of the two peoples, and carry forward and develop it generation after generation.”  Liu “recalled that the special envoy of First Secretary of Kim Jong Un visited China and met with General Secretary Xi Jinping and other leading officials of China and had an in-depth and candid exchange of views on issues of common concern” and said “the relations between the two countries at present have entered a new historic phase. . .underlining the need to promote common development on the principles of mutual respect, mutual benefit and co-prosperity and thus bring welfare to the two peoples.”

The two events commemorating the anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s visit to China in 1983 appear to be part of a reconciliation process between the DPRK and China.  The Beijing reception was attended by PRC Vice President Li Yuanchao, who visited the DPRK Embassy on a condolence call after Kim Jong Il’s death in December 2011 and who lead a CPC delegation on an official visit to the DPRK in June 2011, during which he met with the late DPRK leader.  Also attending the Beijing anniversary event were Liu Jieyi, who escorted VMar Choe Ryong Hae during his visit to Beijing in May 2013, and Liu Zhenmin, who had previously participated in several senior DPRK-PRC interactions.

DPRK Premier Visits Yanggakdo Stadium and Pyongyang Essential Foodstuffs Factory

DPRK Cabinet Premier Pak Pong Ju (3rd R) inspects a lawn mower during his visit to the renovation of Yanggakdo Stadium in Pyongyang. Also in attendance is DPRK Vice Premier and State Planning Commission Chairman Ro To Chol (2nd R) (Photo: Rodong Sinmun).

DPRK state media reported on 13 June (Thursday) that DPRK Cabinet Premier Pak Pong Ju visited the Pyongyang Essential Foodstuffs Factory and the renovation of the Yanggakdo Football Stadium.  Pak’s first visit was to the Pyongyang Essential Foodstuffs Factory, following up a visit by DPRK leader Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) which was reported in state media on 7 June.  Pak toured the food factory and “congratulated its officials and employees upon presenting a great pleasure to Kim Jong Un.”  He also convened a meeting with the factory’s managers and officials which “which stressed the need for the factory to activate the production on the basis of production potentiality. It also pressed for the measures for relevant units to substantially provide necessary raw and other materials.”  Pak later visited Yanggakdo Stadium, currently under going renovation work by construction units of the Ministry of Railways.  Pak “encouraged officials and employees of the Ministry of Railways all out in the drive to carry out the on-the-spot instructions given by the dear respected Marshal Kim Jong Un on successfully remodeling the stadium into an exclusive one that can represent football stadium of the DPRK” and “underscored the need for the officials and builders to keep in mind the undying exploits of President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il for the development of the Chuch’e-oriented sports and bring about great innovations in remodeling the stadium,” according to KCNA.  Pak held a “consultative meeting” with construction managers and officials and “discussed the matters arising in sprucing up the stadium.”

View of Yanggakdo Stadium and the Pyongyang Essential Foodstuffs Factory (Photo: Google image).

The Pyongyang Essential Foodstuffs Factory in east Pyongyang (Photo: Google image).

The Yanggakdo Stadium in Pyongyang. Construction boats, some of which may be involved in dredging operations in the Taedong River to produce concrete, can be seen at the bottom of the image (Photo: Google image).

DPRK Premier Visits Coal Mines

DPRK Premier Pak Pong Ju (L), tours a coal mine (Photo: KCNA).

DPRK state media reported on 11 June (Tuesday) that DPRK Cabinet Premier Pak Pong Ju visited the To’kso’ng and Ku’mya Youth Coal Mines.  Pak toured a cutting and dressing facilities and was briefed extensively about ore and coal deposits at the mines, the general predicament of the mines and and mining equipment.  He held “consultative meetings” with mines managers and leading officials.  According to KCNA, the meetings “underscored the need for the relevant units to satisfactorily supply raw and other materials and electricity as required by the important duties to be performed by the ore and coal mines in economic construction and improvement of the people’s standard of living” and “took measures for transporting greater quantities of concentrated ore and coal in good time and raising the operation rate of rolling stock by reinforcing the strength of railroads and cutting down the turnround time of freight wagons.”  Pak recalled “that the dear respected Marshal Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) called for ushering in a new heyday on all fronts for socialist construction by creating the ‘Masikny’ong Speed,’” and Pak “urged the officials of the relevant units to scrupulously organize and command operations and give full play to the mental power of the workers to boost production.”

Minister of People’s Security Reclaims 4th Star

Gen. Choe Pu Il, Minister of the People’s Security (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

DPRK state media reported that Choe Pu Il, Minister of the People’s Security, was restored to his previous rank of four-star General (taejang) per an order of Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n).  Choe Pu Il was first promoted to General by late leader Kim Jong Il on 28 September 2010.  Choe’s name appeared on a promotions list which also elevated Kim Jong Un, Choe Ryong Hae (current Director of the Korean People’s Army [KPA] General Political Department; later elevated to Vice Marshal [ch'asu]) Kim Kyong Ok (Senior Deputy (vice) Director of the Korean Workers’ Party [KWP] Organization Guidance Department), Hyon Yong Chol (then-commander of VIII Army Corps; served as Chief of the KPA General Staff from July 2012 to May 2013 and currently commander of V Army Corps) and Kim Kyong Hui (Kim Jong Un’s aunt and a core member of the DPRK leadership).  Choe was rumored to have been reduced rank to three-star Colonel-General (sangjang) in late 2011, although it is not clear what prompted his demotion.  From about 2012 until February 2013 Choe Pu Il served as the Chief of the KPA General Staff Operations Bureau.  In February he was appointed Minister of the People’s Security, where he replaced Gen. Ri Myong Su.  On 31 March 2013, Choe was elected an alternate (candidate) member of the KWP Political Bureau and at the 7th session (plenum) of the 12th Supreme People’s Assembly [SPA] on 1 April 2013 Choe was elected a member of the DPRK National Defense Commission [NDC].

According to KCNA, the Ministry of the People’s Security [MPS] and the Korean People’s Internal Security Forces [KPISF] “together with the Korean People’s Army constitute armed groups which play the role of two mainstays of the Korean revolution” and in issuing the promotion order Kim Jong Un “expressed belief that all service persons of the people’s security organ and the KPISF would creditably perform their honorable mission and duty as the first-line soldiers protecting the socialist system, remaining loyal to the leadership of the party.” Rodong Sinmun reported that Choe Pu Il’s rank was restored because “The organ of people’s security and the people’s internal security forces are two leading armed groups that, together with the people’s army, form twin pillars of our revolution.  In the past period, members of the public security corps and the officers and men of the people’s internal security forces performed great feats that will forever shine in the history of the fatherland by highly demonstrating boundless devotion and sacrifice in the sacred struggle to defend the party, system, and the people both in the days of glory and days of ordeals while highly upholding the banner of death-defying defense of the leader” and that “the prevailing situation urgently demands the organ of the people’s security and the people’s internal security forces, which are the revolutionary armed forces of our party, to impregnably guard the gateway of the socialist system and to reliably guarantee, with gun barrels and law, the party’s line on simultaneously pushing forward economic construction and the building of nuclear armed forces.”

Graphic of the key bureaus of the Ministry of the People’s Security (Graphic by Michael Madden/NK Leadership Watch).

Ministry of People’s Security headquarters (Photo: Google image)

Choe Pu Il’s February 2013 appointment as Minister created a superficial gap in the power balance among the DPRK’s internal security agencies.  His counterpart at the Ministry of State Security, Kim Won Hong, was a four-star general.  The formal military rankings of these agencies’ leading officials suggest that the one led by a full-general has a more superior position, and valued more by the leader, than an agency led by a three-star general.  Based on his observed and reported public activities, Kim Jong Un appeared to be favoring the Ministry of State Security over the Ministry of the People’s Security.  Both ministries erected statues of late leader Kim Jong Il on the campuses of their respective headquarters, however Kim Jong Un visited the Ministry of State Security after it unveiled its KJI statue, but not the MPS.  The MPS, however, demonstrated its political clout in 2012 when KPISF commander, Gen. Kim In Sik, was appointed Vice Premier of the DPRK Cabinet and later appointed Chairman of the Capital City (Pyongyang) Construction Commission.  Kim Jong Un visited People’s Security headquarters and inspected a KPISF unit on May Day (1 May; International Labor Day) 2013.

The Ministry of the People’s Security is a large security organization consisting of (ca.) 200,000 employees with diverse missions.  In DPRK vernacular, the MPS is “a dinosaur” indicating the immense size and resources of the organization.  The MPS is the DPRK’s major domestic law enforcement and public safety organization.  It enforces DPRK laws and statutes (i.e. misdemeanors and felonies), discharges a number of public safety functions (fire departments, traffic control, road and railway security), administers prisons and labor detention facilities and is responsible for various registration records (the census, birth and death certificates, marriage licenses).  MPS personnel provide security to DPRK Embassies and missions located abroad, to DPRK Cabinet members and other DPRK government officials and DPRK universities and research institutions.  They also support the missions of the Guard Command, which provides close protection for Kim Jong Un and others core DPRK elites.  The MPS and the KPISF also operate several engineering and construction brigades (which some sources claim construct the tunnels used in nuclear detonations) and own several farms and other production sites, including the Taedonggang Combined Fruit Farm and Factory and the 927 Chicken Farm.  The MPS and KPISF are subordinate to the National Defense Commission, but they report to Jang Song Taek in his capacity as NDC Vice Chairman and Director of the KWP Administration Department.

Ministers of the People’s (Public) Security from 2000 through the present (Graphic by Michael Madden/NK Leadership Watch).

Like some other recent personnel changes at the upper tier of the DPRK’s** national security community, Choe Pu Il’s replacement of Ri Myong Su did not involve an aggressive purge of the incumbent official in favor of a Kim Jong Un loyalist.  Despite being removed from office, Gen. Ri appears to remain a member of the central leadership, albeit operating in a diminished capacity.  Like his two immediate predecessors, Choe has spent part of his career in command positions in the KPA’s conventional forces.  Both Choe Pu Il and Ri Myong Su have held the position of Chief of the KPA General Staff Operations Bureau [GSOB].  Choe was head of the operations bureau from 2012 to 2013 and Ri headed the bureau from approximately 1996 to 2007.  Like the Minister of People’s Security, the Chief of the General Staff Operations Bureau leads a diverse security organization with hundred of thousands of personnel, has direct access to the supreme leader and an intimate knowledge of the country’s various power organizations and their activities.  While not a head of the GSOB, Ri Myong Su’s predecessor, Gen. Ju Sang Song, had served as an inspector-general of the Chief KPA General Staff and was the commander of the IV Army Corps.  Since the health-related retirement of Paek Hak Rim in 2003, the MPS had only once been led by a civilian, Choe Ryong Su, who served as Minister for about a year until he was removed from office.  Since Choe’s 2004 dismissal, the DPRK leadership has seemingly earmarked the Minister’s position for the KPA.

**Rumors of purged security officials are greatly exaggerated in the Pyongyang watching community.  Gen. U Tong Chuk stood aside as Minister of State Security in 2012 and vacated his political offices, but was never purged.  Readers can do the math on Gen. U’s status, factoring in that he spent much of his career as an overseas intelligence manager and officer.  VMar Kim Jong Gak was removed as Minister of the People’s Armed Forces in November 2011, but has not lost his Vice Marshal’s rank and was assigned another position.  Hyon Yong Chol, who served as Chief of the KPA General Staff from July 2012 to May 2013, was reduced in rank and assigned command of V Army Corps.  And then there’s Kim Kyok Sik, removed from office as Minister of the People’s Armed Forces in May 2013 after six months in officer.  Gen. Kim, identified as the target of the biggest purge this side of ’56, ended up appointed Chief of the General Staff.

***For fans of James Church’s Inspector O series, “the Minister” in The Corpse in the Koryo and Bamboo and Blood was Paek Hak Rim and “the Minister” in Hidden Moon was Choe Ryong Su***

Avian Flu Outbreak Abated in DPRK

The Pyongyang Tudan Duck Farm in east Pyongyang, where an outbreak of avian flu was discovered in mid-April 2013 (Photos: Google image and KCNA/FLPH file photo)

No additional cases of a new strain of avian influenza (H5N1) have been discovered in the DPRK, according to the first follow-up report submitted [PDF] to the World Organisation for Animal Health [OIE] on 22 May 2013 by Ri Kyong Gun, Director of the Veterinary Anti-Epizootic Department of the DPRK Ministry of Agriculture.  According to the DPRK’s reporting to OIE, the birds in cages infected with the avian flu strain were “humanely culled” and that an “inactivated monovalent vaccine” was being administered on approximately 500,000 livestock and animals in the DPRK’s 12 provinces.  On 19 April 2013, DPRK agricultural workers discovered an avian flu outbreak in a cage of ducks at the Tudan Duck Farm in east Pyongyang.  Additional testing of duck cages from the Tudan Farm were tested by laboratories of the Ministry of Agriculture and State Academy of Science, which showed that 20 additional duck and duckling cages at Tudan Farm tested positive for avian flu.  The DPRK has not been to determine the original source of the infection, however in its follow-up report to the OIE it said it had taken a number of precautions including screening other animals for symptoms, disinfecting farms where the virus has been found, restricting and/or prohibiting the transport of animals within the country, quarantining and administering vaccinations.

With KPA Assets in Syria and Rumors of Moscow Trip, Gen. Kim Kyok Sik Remains PY Man of the Hour

KPA officers meet a man injured during the Syrian civil war at a hospital in Syria in 2012 (Photo: SANA/NKLW file photo)

Al-Sharq al-Awsat reported on 3 June (Monday) that Arabic-speaking Korean People’s Army [KPA] personnel are serving as military advisers on artillery tactics and providing logistical support to the Syrian Armed Forces, currently defending the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s ongoing civil war. Citing information from a pro-Assad militia,  Rami Abd-al-Rahman, director of the the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights,’ told Al-Sharq al-Awsat “that North Korean officers are taking part alongside the regular forces in the fighting in Aleppo” and that “the overall number of these officers is unknown but there are certainly between 11 and 15 North Korean officers and the majority of them speak Arabic. . .(they) are deployed at several fronts such as the defense factories southeast of Aleppo and at the regular forces’ bases inside the city itself.” He went on to point out that “these officers are not taking part in the field battles but offering logistical support in addition to drawing up the military operations maps. They are also supervising the regular army’s artillery shelling.”

The last observed, credible reports about DPRK military assistance to Syria during the unfolding civil war were in May 2012 and involved dedicated shipments of vehicle parts, munitions’ component parts and ordnance.  DPRK cargo vessel ODAI docked in the Syrian port cities of Latakiya and Tartus during 29 to 31 May 2012.  According to Haaretz, citing elements of the Syrian opposition, reported that “North Korea is also continuing to send arms to Syria. The shipments arrive by air and sea and they are being paid by a special slush fund that the Iranian government set up for this purpose.”   The DPRK has made several public demonstrations of support to its embattled ally including meetings between DPRK and Syrian officials in July 2012, DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Pak Kil-yo’n referring to Syria’s civil war in address to the United Nations General Assembly in October 2012 and a number of exchanges of gifts and congratulatory letters between President Assad and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n).  

The DPRK began contacts and exchanges with Syria in the early 1960′s and established former diplomatic relations in 1966.  Syria was the DPRK’s major conduit through which it provided military equipment, training and advisers to freedom fighter and radical Muslim groups in the Middle East and Africa from the 1960s on.  KPA assets assisted Syria during the October War (Yom Kippur War) in 1973 and provided support, at Syria’s behest and participated in the Lebanese Civil War.  In 1982, KPA advisers were present when Syrian forces quelled an uprising in Hama and later that year KPA forces were deployed to Syria and Lebanon during the 1982 Lebanon War.  Since the 1970s the DPRK and Syria have had an extensive military exchange relationship which has included numerous arms shipments and the deployment of KPA strategic and logistical advisers.  The DPRK Foreign Ministry and DPRK state media have also publicly defended Syria, including issuing official denials that the two countries were cooperating on nuclear weapons development after the Israeli Air Force bombed an alleged nuclear facility in Syria on 6 September 2007.

The Korean People’s Army General Staff, led by Gen. Kim Kyok Sik (Graphic: Michael Madden/NK Leadership Watch)

One of the DPRK’s major players in its military relationship with Syria is current Chief of the KPA General Staff, Gen. Kim Kyok Sik.  Gen. Kim served as a deputy military attache at the DPRK Embassy in Damascus for almost decade starting in 1971.  Gen. Kim managed a number of military cooperation projects with the Syrian Armed Forces, including rehabilitating Syrian military forces in the mid-1970s and coordinating shipments of multiple-launch rocket systems and other military support to various radical organizations.  With the DPRK and its core leadership providing both public and substantial support to Syria during the civil war, and given Gen. Kim’s experience and extensive ties to Damascus, it is likely his recent public profile and switching one senior KPA position for another after six months are partially linked to the DPRK’s continued support for Syria.

Gen. Kim Kyok Sik was also rumored to to have been selected to lead a senior DPRK delegation on a visit to Moscow.  Kyunghyang Shinmun reported “Chief of the Korean People’s Army General Staff Kim Kyuk Sik is being tapped as the (North Korean) envoy and the number of the North’s delegation is likely to be six or seven” and that Gen. Kim and the delegation would arrive on or around 7 June (Friday), timed to occur whilst US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet in California.  On 3 June, Interfax quoted an anonymous official in the Russian Foreign Ministry that “no high-level visits are being planned at the moment” between the DPRK and Russia.

Kim Jong Un Visits International Children’s Camp and Outdoor Theater in Wo’nsan

Kim Jong Un (1) tours Songdowon International Children’s Camp in Wo’nsan, Kangwo’n Province (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

DPRK state media reported on 30 May (Thursday) that Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) visited the Songdowon International Children’s Camp and the Songdowon Youth Open-Air Theater in Kangwo’n, capital city of Kangwo’n Province.  His last observed public appearance was his visit to the 25 August Fishery Station of Korean People’s Army [KPA] Unit #313.  Attending Kim Jong Un’s visits to the children’s camp and outdoor theater in Wo’nsan were Senior Deputy [1st vice] Director of the Korean Workers’ Party [KWP] Propaganda and Agitation Department Choe Hwi, Deputy KWP Department Director (for construction and design) Ma Won Chun and Deputy KWP Department Director Pak Tae Song.

Kim Jong Un’s first stop was a tour of the Songdowon International Children’s Camp.  After arriving at the camp, Kim Jong Un examined a statue of his grandfather, late DPRK President and founder, Kim Il Sung.  He said that the camp is “a historic place” and whilst “recollecting that Kim Il Sung personally chose the site of the camp in 1959, the postwar period, and made sure that it was built, he added that in the subsequent period leader Kim Jong Il saw to it that it was reconstructed as the Songdowon International Children’s Camp and visited it in March, 1993 when the country was in a grave situation.”  Kim Jong Un also remarked that “it is the firm determination of the WPK to successfully remodel the camp closely associated with the leadership exploits of the great Generalissimos Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il as required by the new century,” “proposed erecting statues of the Generalissimos among children while undertaking the project in order to convey their noble love for future and posterity down through generations” and “specified instructions for remodeling the camp, going round the camp building, the International Friendship Children’s Hall and other places of the camp visited by Kim Jong Il on March 30, 1993,” according to KCNA.

Songdowon International Children’s Camp in Wo’nsan, Kangwo’n Province (Photos: Google image, KCNA/FLPH file photo)

Kim Jong Un (1) tours the Songdowon International Children’s Camp (Photo: Rodong Sinmun).

Kim Jong Un (1) issues instructions while touring a beach at Songdowon International Children’s Camp in Wo’nsan, Kangwo’n Province on the DPRK’s east coast (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)

Kim Jong Un toured one of the camp’s dormitories and “told officials to provide them with better furniture and TV sets.” He also “underscored the need to decorate walls of rooms with wallpapers beautiful in color and pattern to suit children’s minds and take thorough measures for heating and electricity so that they may not feel any inconvenience in their camping.”  In a visit to a building lobby he “said that it is 20 years old but it still looks impeccable in architectural beauty as Kim Jong Il led the designing and construction of the camp with loving care.”  He also toured a friendship exhibition and “stressed the need to set up a guide board written in foreign languages so that it may be convenient to children from various countries of the world” and visited a classroom for marine biology lessons and “gave an instruction to provide it with varieties of specimen so that campers may acquire not only knowledge about seas but that about animals and plants.”

According to KCNA, Kim Jong Un said “that the camp should be operated in winter, too, in the future so that children may enjoy skiing at the Masik Pass Skiing Ground now under construction.”  During a tour of the camp’s wading pool, he said “he would send modern wading equipment and told officials to spruce them up as well as they please.”  On a tour of a playground, he “called for building a running track and covering the football field with artificial turf and providing new facilities for sports events such as volleyball and basketball.” Kim Jong Un also asked the camp change its ideological slogan to “We Are the Happiest in the World!” and “General Goes to Front While Children Go to Camp!”  During a tour of the camp’s beach Kim Jong Un “underscored the need to build dressing rooms and diving towers, provide modern shower equipment and take necessary measures for preventing sand from piling up there.”  According to KCNA he also “took measures for building a new ground for education at the camp and paving its sidewalks again, adding that he would send vehicles needed for its management and operation.”

Kim Jong Un (1) tours Songdowon Youth Open Air Theater in Wo’nsan Kangwo’n Province (Photo: Rodong Sinmun).

Songdowon Youth Open Air Theater in Wo’nsan, Kangwo’n Province (Photos: Google image, Rodong Sinmun).

Kim Jong Un’s next visit was to the Songdowon Youth Open-Air Theater.  He first visited an exhibition on the theater’s history and “recalled the words of leader Kim Jong Il that he would watch a performance of the State Merited Chorus with citizens of Wonsan City there if the seating capacity of the theatre would be increased to 5 000, adding that he could not keep the promise.”  He also “underscored the need to manage the theatre better and put its operation on a regular basis so as to eternally glorify their exploits.”  According to KCNA, Kim Jong Un said “as the room dedicated to the history of the theatre is the place for educating visitors, it should be arranged and furnished well so that many working people, youth and students may visit it.”  Kim Jong Un toured the theater.  He “told officials to readjust the chairs in such a way as to make them convenient to the audience” and whilst looking at the renovated stage said “the stage was roofless in the past but it was newly built well as instructed by Kim Jong Il. The stage looks nice after its remodeling.”  He also learned about the performances offered at the theater and ”underlined the need to ensure that songs and dances and exciting agitation are always presented there.” Kim Jong Un also said he “would spare time to watch an art performance at the theatre together with Wo’nsan citizens” and he “instructed the Kangwo’n Provincial Committee of the WPK and working people’s organizations in the province including the provincial committee of the youth league to pay deep attention to the management and operation of the open-air theatre so that it may creditably discharge its mission.”

Kim Jong Un called “for successfully remodeling the open-air theatre as a fashionable one which will well match its environment and remain impeccable in the distant future” and “indicated the tasks and ways to do so.”  After touring the Songdowon Youth Open-Air Theater, Kim Jong Un posed for commemorative photographs with theater employees.

KWP Deputy Department Director Ma Won Chun (annotated) attends a tour by Kim Jong Il in Wo’nsan Province in August 2009 (L) and attends Kim Jong Un’s visit to Songdowon International Children’s Camp in May 2013 (Photos: KCNA-Yonhap, Rodong Sinmun).

Overview of Kim family residential compound in the city of Wo’nsan and two locales in the city was reported on 30 May 2013 as having visited (Photo: Google image)

View of the main residential and recreational area of the Kim Family’s residential compound in Wo’nsan, Kangwo’n Province (Photo: Google image)

The last #1 visit to the Songdowon Youth Open Air Theater was in August 2009 when late leader Kim Jong Il dropped by for a tour of the theater, accompanied by a formidable retinue of close aides and powerholders.  During that visit, KJI said the theater was “a historic place where an art performance celebrating the 20th anniversary of Korea’s liberation was given in August of 1965 in the presence of President Kim Il Sung” and he “recollected with deep emotion those unforgettable historic days.”  KJI also remarked during his visit that “the slogan ‘We Serve the People!’ clearly reflects the unshakable will and determination of the WPK to devote everything to the happiness of the people, placing their interests above all.”

Kim Jong Un has spent the last week in and around Wo’nsan.  It is likely he has been operating out of the Kim Family compound in northern Wo’nsan.  The residential complex is located across a river from the Songdowon International Children’s Camp.

 

DPRK Premier Visits Musan

DPRK Premier Pak Pong Ju (1) looks at an open pit mine at the Musan Mining Complex in Musan County, North Hamgyo’ng Province (Photo: KCNA).

DPRK state media reported on 27 May (Monday) that DPRK Cabinet Premier Pak Pong Ju visited Musan County, North Hamgyo’ng Province.  Pak visited the Musan Mining Complex, the DPRK’s largest producer of iron ore.  Pak toured various the mining complex “to learn about production and technological updating” and saw the ore dressing section, excavation area and a facility which transports iron ore from the mining complex to the Kim Ch’aek Iron and Steel Complex in Ch’o'ngjin.  After his tour, Pak Pong Ju convened a meeting of the mining complex’s managers and officials.  According to KCNA, the meeting “discussed measures for increasing iron ore production by making an effective use of the existing production foundation on the principle of giving priority to the earth removal” and it “also took measures for raising the operating rate of vehicles which play a big role in earth removal. It called on the relevant units to produce and provide necessary spare parts in good time.”  During his visit to Musan County, Pak also visited the Musan Foodstuff Factory and Musan Wood Processing Factory where, according to KCNA, Pak “called for increasing the competitiveness of products.”

Musan County is also the location of the DPRK’s largest untapped untapped uranium deposits.  When the DPRK began prospecting for uranium in the 1970s, it found three large uranium sources in the country.  It constructed mines and processing facilities at two of those locations, but did not mine the uranium found in Musan County.  Pak Pong Ju may have made an unreported visit to a site where the prospecting of uranium is under way.  Pak had previously visited the cement complex in Sunch’o'n, South P’yo’ngan Province.  Sunch’o'n is one of the two cities, where the DPRK operates a uranium mining complex.   The 7th session of the 12th Supreme People’s Assembly on 1 April 2013 created the Ministry of Atomic Energy Industry under the DPRK Cabinet.  The newly formed Ministry will be the key organization in uranium mining.  According to a Minju Joson report about the Cabinet’s first meeting on 21 April 2013, the Cabinet “pointed out that. . .the atomic industrial sector should actively carry out the uranium ore prospecting and should increase production, and it should expand the production of nuclear fuels and nuclear materials and should qualitatively produce and supply with top priority the facilities, raw materials and supplies necessary for reinstating the operation of major production processes such as the graphite-moderated reactor of atomic power plant and for expediting the construction of a light-water reactor power plant.”