Kim Jong Un (1) visiting the Turf Institute of the Bioengineering Branch of the State Academy of Sciences. Also in attendance are VMar Choe Ryong Hae (2) and Choe Tae Bok (3) (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)
DPRK state media reported on 5 May (Sunday) that Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) visited the Turf Institute of the Bioengineering Branch of the State Academy of Sciences. KJU’s last observed public appearance was his attendance at May Day-themed concert of the U’nhasu Orchestra at the People’s Theater in central Pyongyang. Joining Kim Jong Un for his visit to the Turf Institute were Director of the Korean People’s Army [KPA] General Political Department VMar Choe Ryong Hae, Korean Workers’ Party [KWP] Secretary and Supreme People’s Assembly Chairman Choe Tae Bok and KWP Deputy (vice) Department Directors Pak T’ae-so’ng and Hwang Pyong So.
The Turf Institute, which was the locale of previous visits by senior government and party officials, was described as “newly constructed by soldiers.” Kim Jong Un visited the institute’s main building where he “was pleased to see the green-tiled outer wall” and he “praised the soldier-builders for erecting the monument to the institute in an imposing manner.” KJU toured the institute’s exhibition of its accomplishments, various research facilities, a study center and its e-library. Kim Jong Un noted “research rooms and laboratories were built well to suit the nature of the institute” and “he underscored the need to take measures for providing it with necessary equipment and scientific and technological information.” He also toured the institute’s commissary and living quarters of its employees.
Kim Jong Un (1) talks with managers of the Turf Institute of the State Academy of Sciences during a visit there. (Photo: KCNA-Yonhap)
Kim Jong Un toured the Turf Institute’s research greenhouse where he saw “various species of turf being cultivated.” According to KCNA, KJU said “what is essential in the research into turf is to cultivate turf which remains green all the year round, strong in resistance to cold and treading and high in ornamental effect.” KJU also toured experimental plots of turf “comprising the experimental field for species, experimental field for seed-selection and vegetative propagation, experimental field for turf cutting and other fields” where he “called for conducting research into species suited to the areas distinct in four seasons and different in their climatic conditions.” Kim Jong Un also instructed that regional offices of the Turf Institute be established in the east, west and central areas of the DPRK. KJU also looked at several species of turf and instructed that additional research be conducted into developing grass that is green throughout the year. Kim Jong Un also spoke of “the need to plant trees, create grassland and cultivate flowers and other plants in all lands except the cultivated land so that there may be no land left waste or overgrown with weed.” KJU also inspected “various type machines including those for collecting turf seeds, sowing them and cutting turf and a ground-stiffening roller machine contrived and manufactured by the Academy” and “called for widely applying them.” According to KCNA, Kim Jong Un said he “would send modern equipment for researches to the institute” and he “underscored the need to turn the country into a socialist thriving nation and make it richer and more beautiful for the people by dynamically conducting the land management under a long-term plan.”
DPRK state media reported on 3 May that DPRK Cabinet Premier Pak Pong Ju visited the ongoing construction and renovation work at the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War (Korean War) Museum in Pyongyang and the Korean People’s Army [KPA] Fallen Fighters’ Cemetery. KCNA reported that “service personnel are building the war museum into a splendid monumental edifice” and “officials and workers in the field of the capital city construction are pushing ahead with the construction of the cemetery in the spirit of winning victory in the all-out standoff with the U.S., in hearty response to the decision of the historic March, 2013 Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea.” Pak Pong Ju toured about the construction work and was briefed about its progress. After his tour, Pak held a “consultative meeting” with the project’s managers and officials. According to KCNA, the meeting “discussed the issues of providing cement, structural steel and other materials and equipment necessary for the construction” and Pak “stressed the importance of the construction of the museum and cemetery.”
Kim Jong Un (2nd R) and his wife Ri Sol Ju (R) visit a teppanyaki griddle in the restaurant of the Haedanghwa Health Complex in east Pyongyang (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)
DPRK state media reported on 27 April (Saturday) that Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) visited the recently constructed Haedanghwa Health Complex in Pyongyang. KJU’s last reported public appearance was his attendance at a banquet commemorating the 81st anniversary of the foundation of the Korean People’s Army [KPA]. He was joined by his wife, Ri Sol Ju (Ri So’l-chu). Madame Ri’s last reported public appearance was in late February, when she watched a basketball game and attended a banquet with Dennis Rodman.
Also attending the visit were DPRK Cabinet Premier Pak Pong Ju, VMar Choe Ryong Hae (Director of the KPA General Political Department), Jang Song Taek (Vice Chairman of the DPRK National Defense Commission [NDC]), Gen. Hyon Yong Chol (Chief of the KPA General Staff), Gen. Kim Kyong Sik (Minister of the People’s Armed Forces), Kim Kyong Hui (KWP Secretary and KJU’s aunt), Kim Ki Nam (KWP Secretary and Director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department), Choe Tae Bok (KWP Secretary and SPA Chairman), Kang Sok Ju (DPRK Cabinet Vice Premier), Kim Yong Il (KWP Secretary and Director of the International Affairs Department), Kim Yang Gon (KWP Secretary and Director of the United Front Department), Kim P’yo’ng-hae (KWP Secretary and Director of Cadres’ Affairs), Kwak Pom Gi (KWP Secretary and Director of the Planning and Finance Department), Mun Kyong Dok (Chief Secretary of the Pyongyang City [municipal] KWP Committee), Col. Gen. O Il Jong (Director of the KWP Military Affairs Department), Han Kwang Sang (Deputy Director of the KWP Finance and Accounting Department) Paek Kye Ryong (Director of the KWP Light Industry Department), Kim Kyong Ok (Senior Deputy [first vice] Director of the KWP Organization Guidance Department), Gen. Kim Yong Chol (Chief of the Reconnaissance General Bureau and Vice Chief of the KPA General Staff) and Jon Il Chun (Deputy Director of the KWP Finance and Accounting Department), among others.
Kim Jong Un began his visit at Haedanghwa Health Complex’s basement garage. According to KCNA, KJU “was pleased to see the completed complex, adding that he appreciated its design and construction after examining the information on it presented to him by the relevant field.” He also visited the store and dining rooms on the complex’s first two levels. He “highly praised the builders for constructing not only the shop but the dining rooms to suit their nature and meet the requirements of formative art,” according to KCNA. KJU visited the restaurant where he remarked that “cooking is a science and art, [he urged] the cookers to steadily improve their skills and display creative ingenuity to serve customers with varieties of tasty and highly nutritive dishes” and had a commemorative photograph taken with the chefs. KJU then went to the second and third levels of the Haedanghwa Health Complex where he visited the public baths, saunas a barber shop, hair salon skin treatment center, workout room, billiard room and other recreational facilities. KCNA reported that Kim Jong Un “personally checked the temperature of water at the bath and learnt about service provided at a face treatment room” and “was pleased to see the wading pool. He was also pleased to go round various saunas built with peculiar building materials such as halite, agate and yellow earth.” KJU also “learnt in detail about what kinds of sports apparatuses are there in the fitness hall and table-tennis hall” and whilst “watching the clock in the shape of billiard balls and billiard table on a wall of the billiard room, he praised the builders for having constructed the room in such a perfect manner that everything there is impeccable.”
KJU then visited the health complex’s e-library and, according to KCNA, said “a relevant field should systematically send various data and videos on cooking to the e-reading room” and he “stressed the need to supply a sufficient quantity of foodstuff necessary for cooking practice so that apprentices may acquire workable knowledge, saying that theory is not enough to acquire cooking skill.” He also visited a coffee shop on the complex’s fifth floor. According to KCNA Kim Jong Un said that “it is the firm resolution of the WPK to enable the Korean people, the best in the world, to fully enjoy wealth and glory under socialism, without tightening their belts again, he noted, underlining the need to build more modern service centers such as the Haedanghwa Health Complex impeccable in any aspect.”
Kim Jong Un (8th L) and senior members of the DPRK’s national security community pay their respects to statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il at the Ku’msusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang on 25 April 2013, the official 81st anniversary of the foundation of the Korean People’s Army.(Photo: KCNA)
DPRK state media reported that Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) visited the Ku’msusan Memorial Palace of the Sun and attended a banquet on 25 April (Thursday), to mark the official 81st anniversary of the foundation Korean People’s Army [KPA]. KJU’s last reported public appearance was his attendance at a rally and military “march-past” on Ku’msusan Plaza. KJU first visited the preserved remains of his grandfather, late DPRK President and founder Kim Il Sung, and his father, late leader Kim Jong Il, at the Ku’msusan Memorial Palace.
Floral baskets (C) and honor guards representing (L, R) the KPA’s three conventional service branches at Kumsusan on 25 April 2013 (Photos: KCNA)
He was accompanied by Kim Yong Nam (Supreme People’s Assembly [SPA] Presidium President), Pak Pong Ju (DPRK Cabinet Premier), VMar Choe Ryong Hae (Director of the KPA General Political Department), Jang Song Taek (Vice Chairman of the DPRK National Defense Commission [NDC]), Gen. Hyon Yong Chol (Chief of the KPA General Staff), Gen. Kim Kyok Sik (Minister of the People’s Armed Forces), Kim Kyong Hui (KWP Secretary and KJU’s aunt), Pak To Chun (KWP Secretary), VMar Kim Yong Chun (Vice Chairman of the NDC and Director of the KWP Civil Defense Department), VMar Ri Yong Mu (Vice Chairman of the NDC), VMar Hyon Chol Hae (1st Vice Minister of the People’s Armed Forces and Director of the KPA General Logistics Department), Gen. Kim Won Hong (Minister of State Security), Gen. O Kuk Ryol (Vice Chairman of the NDC), Col. Gen. Choe Pu Il (Minister of the People’s Security), Ju Kyu Chang (Director of the KWP Machine-Building Industry Department), Col. Gen. Kim Chang Sop (Director of the Ministry of State Security’s Political Bureau), Col. Gen. Ri Pyong Sam (Director of the Korean People’s Internal Security Forces Political Bureau) and “commanding officers of the WPK Central Military Commission, the National Defence Commission of the DPRK and the KPA.”
KJU and the KPA’s high command first visited a room containing statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. Floral baskets from Kim Jong Un, the Party Central Committee the Party Central Military Commission and the NDC were placed in front of the statues. KJU then visited the rooms containing the preserved remains of his grandfather and father where he “made bows. . .in the humblest reverence,” according to KCNA.
A banquet hosted by the DPRK National Defense Commission at Mokran House in central Pyongyang on 25 April 2013, to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the foundation of the Korean People’s Army. (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)
Kim Jong Un also attended a banquet hosted by the NDC at Mokran (Moknan) House in central Pyongyang. Attending the banquet were “senior party, army and state officials, members of the WPK Central Military Commission and the NDC of the DPRK, commanding officers of the KPA, officials of the party and armed forces organs, ministries and national institutions and service personnel of the KPA and the Korean People’s Internal Security Forces” and “diplomatic envoys of foreign countries and military attaches of foreign embassies here and their spouses.” Before the banquet, the Moranbong Band gave a performance.
After the performance, a toast speech was delivered by Jang Song Taek (Chang So’ng-t’aek; Jang Song Thaek), Vice Chairman of the NDC, Director of the KWP Administration Department and Kim Jong Un’s uncle. According to KCNA, during his speech, Mr. Jang “paid highest tribute to the great Generalissimos Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il who strengthened the KPA into the matchless revolutionary army and led it to the road of victory and glory, breathing with arms all their lives” and that “upon the authorization of Marshal Kim Jong Un, supreme leader of our party and people and supreme commander of the KPA, he warmly congratulated the service personnel defending the sky, land and seas of the country as firm as a rock and all the people dynamically struggling to build a thriving nation.” Mr. Jang “noted that the revolutionary armed forces are ushering in the greatest heyday of their development as they are holding Kim Jong Un, who is identical to the Generalissimos, in high esteem as supreme commander” and he “stressed the need to steadily bolster nuclear force for self-defence both in quality and quantity and perform new miracles and feats in building a thriving socialist nation in the spirit of the historic March, 2013 Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee of the WPK.”
A floral wreath-laying ceremony at the grave Kang Pan Sok (1892-1932) in Mangyo’ngdae, Pyongyang on 21 April 2013. The ceremony marked the 121st anniversary of Kang’s birth in 1892. (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)
Members of the DPRK’s central leadership attend a wreath-laying ceremony at Kang Pan Sok’s grave in Pyongyang on 22 April 2013 In attendance at the graveside ceremony are Mun Kyong Dok (L), VMar Kim Yong Chun (2nd L), Kim Ki Nam (3rd L), Yang Hyong Sop (4th L) and Ro Ru Chol (5th L) (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)
SPA Chairman and KWP Secretary Choe Tae Bok (3rd L) leads a group of senior DPRK officials participating in a floral wreath-laying ceremony at the Chilgol Revolutionary Site in Pyongyang on 21 April 2013 (Photo: KCTV screengrabs)
DPRK state media reported on 21 April (Sunday) that floral wreath laying ceremonies were held at the grave and birthplace of Kang Pan Sok (1892-1932) [Kang Pan-so'k], mother of the late DPRK President and founder Kim Il Sung. Attending the wreath-laying ceremony at her grave were Korean Workers’ Party [KWP] Secretary Kim Ki Nam, National Defense Commission [NDC] Vice Chairman and Director of the KWP Civil Defense Department VMar Kim Yong Chun, Supreme People’s Assembly [SPA] Presidium Vice President Yang Hyong Sop, Chief Secretary of the Pyongyang City [municipal] KWP Committee Mun Kyong Dok and DPRK Cabinet Vice Premier and State Planning Commission Chairman Ro Tu Chol. Attending the ceremony at Chilgol Revolutionary Site, Kang Pan Sok’s birthplace, were SPA Chairman and KWP Secretary Choe Tae Bok and Lt. Gen. Ri Tong Su. The wreath-laying ceremonies were also attended by “other senior officials, the chairman of a friendly party, and officials of party and power organs, working people’s organizations, ministries and national institutions, those in the field of education, service personnel and Pyongyangites.”
Participants in a wreath-laying ceremony bow in front of the grave of Kang Pan Sok in Pyongyang on 21 April 2013 (Photo: KCTV screengrab)
Jon Il Chun (annotated), a principal of the Taesong Group, deputy director of the KWP Finance and Accounting Department and chief of Office #39, helps carry a floral wreath to the Kang Pan Sok statue in Chilgol Revolutionary Site in Pyongyang on 21 April 2013 (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)
Statue of Kang Pan Sok at Chilgol Revolutionary Site, her birthplace, a floral basket from Kim Jong Un and a KPA band play at a 21 April 2013 wreath laying ceremony for Kang on the 121st anniversary of her birth (Photo: KCTV screengrabs)
Wreath laying ceremony at Chilgol Revolutionary Site in Pyongyang on 21 April 2013. (Photos: KCTV screengrabs)
Floral wreaths from Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n), the KWP Central Committee, the SPA Presidium, the DPRK Cabinet and “working people’s organizations, ministries and national institutions, military academies, educational institutions, revolutionary schools and party and power organs, farms, etc. in Pyongyang” were placed before Kang Pan Sok’s grave in Mangyo’ngdae and in front of a statue of her at the Chilgol Revolutionary Site. According to KCNA the ceremonies’ “participants paid silent tribute to her, recollecting her noble life and feats for bringing up President Kim Il Sung to be the sun of the nation and dedicating herself to the liberation of the country and people’s freedom and happiness.”
Cover of the 20 March 2013 edition of the Korean Workers’ Party daily newspaper Rodong Sinmun
Commemorative photograph of Kim Jong Un and members of the central leadership with participants in an 18 March 2013 national meeting of light industry workers at the People’s Theater in central Pyongyang on 19 March 2013 (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)
DPRK state media reported on 19 March (Tuesday) that Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) attended a commemorative photo session with participants in a national meeting of industrial workers held in Pyongyang on 18 March (Monday). KJU’s last reported public appearance was at the national meeting of light industry workers. Attending the photo-op with Kim Jong Un were Choe Yong Rim (DPRK Cabinet Premier), Kim Kyong Hui (Korean Workers’ Party [KWP] Secretary and Department Director and KJU’s aunt), Kim Ki Nam (KWP Secretary and Director of Propaganda and Agitation [publicity and information]), Mun Kyong Dok (Chief Secretary of the Pyongyang City [municipal] KWP Committee), Ro Tu Chol (DPRK Cabinet Vice Premier and State Planning Commission Chairman), Pak Pong Ju (Director of the KWP Light Industry Department), Ri Mu Yong (DPRK Cabinet Vice Premier) and the chief secretaries of KWP Provincial Committees and chairmen of Provincial People’s Committees.
Kim Jong Un poses for a commemorative photograph on 19 March 2013 with other members of the central leadership and participants at an 18 March 2013 national meeting of light industry workers (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)
Participants at an 18 March 2013 national meeting of light industry workers pose for a commemorative photograph with Kim Jong Un and other members of the central leadership in Pyongyang on 19 March 2013 (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)
According to KCNA, Kim Jong Un said, “the meeting loudly sounded the drive on the front of the light industry for improving the people’s living standard and made the torchlight for innovations kindled in the light industry furiously flare up for a fresh leap forward in agriculture and all economic sectors” and “warmly congratulated the participants on having successfully carried out their work with high enthusiasm and active participation and had a photo taken with them.” KJU also “expressed belief that working people, officials, scientists and technicians in the field of light industry and related fields playing important roles in improving the people’s living standard would perform their duties for developing the light industry as required by the building of a thriving socialist nation.”
Commemorative photograph of Kim Jong Un, members of the DPRK central leadership and participants at an 18 March 2013 national meeting of light industry workers in Pyongyang on 19 March 2013 (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)
Kim Jong Un (3rd L) sits on the platform (rostrum) during the national meeting of light industry workers in Pyongyang on 18 March 2013. Also on the platform are Kim Ki Nam (L), Choe Yong Rim (2nd L), Kim Kyong Hui (4th L) and Tae Jong Su (5th L) (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)
DPRK state media reported on 18 March (Monday) that a national meeting of light industry workers was held in Pyongyang. Attending the meeting from the central leadership were Kim Jong Un, Choe Yong Rim (DPRK Cabinet Premier), Kim Kyong Hui (Korean Workers’ Party [KWP] Secretary and Department Director), Kim Ki Nam [KWP Secretary], Mun Kyong Dok (Chief Secretary of the Pyongyang City [municipal] KWP Committee), Ro Tu Chol (DPRK Cabinet Vice Premier and Chairman of the State Planning Commission) and Tae Jong Su (Chief Secretary of the South Hamgyo’ng KWP Provincial Committee) along with “officials of the units taking the lead in carrying out the Party’s policy of light industry and labor innovators, leading officials here and in local areas, officials of economic guidance organs, affiliated fields and working people.” KJU’s last reported public appearance was his observation and guidance of live fire artillery exercises in the West (Yellow) Sea.
A view of the national meeting of light industry workers in Pyongyang on 18 March 2013 (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)
Choe Yong Rim delivered the national meeting’s report. According to KCNA Choe said in his report “that the history of the development of light industry in the DPRK is a history associated with President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il’s Juche-oriented idea on building light industry, their outstanding leadership and tireless devotion and efforts. Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il regarded it as the supreme principle of the party and state activities to improve the standard of people’s living, regarding it as their maxim to believe in people as in Heaven. The great Generalissimos’ idea of building the Juche-based light industry and their undying leadership feats are being successfully carried forward by Marshal Kim Jong Un.” Choe also “referred to the successes achieved in the light industrial field under the leadership of the WPK in the past” and “called for making great innovations and leap forward in producing consumer goods, steadily pushing forward the modernization of equipment and production processes and producing consumer goods as an all-people movement.”
Choe was followed by other speakers from the party, government and the country’s light industrial sector. Kim Jong Un then delivered his speech in which he said “that the light industrial front along with the agricultural front are the main fronts on which efforts should be focused in the drive for building an economic power and improving the people’s living standard. To rapidly develop the nation’s light industry is as worthwhile work not only for improving the people’s material and cultural living standards but an important political work for demonstrating the advantages and vitality of the socialist system in the DPRK, consolidating the single-minded unity of the Party and people as firm as a rock and bringing earlier the revolutionary great event of national reunification,” and KJU “set forth main tasks and ways to be held fast to by the field of light industry at present.”
Kim Jong Un (L) speaks at the national meeting of light industry workers in Pyongyang on 18 March 2013 (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)
Kim Jong Un addresses the national meeting of light industry workers in Pyongyang on 18 March 2013 (Photo: Rodong Sinmun)
According to a gist published by KCNA, Kim Jong Un also remarked:
It is necessary to make the most effective use of the existing production potential to radically increase the production of consumer goods and push forward the modernization and scientification of light industry and thus put it on the world’s advanced level.
The light industry should keep production going at a high rate to massively produce varieties of quality consumer goods.
The industrial establishments in the field of light industry should wage a widespread campaign to improve the quality of consumer goods in order to produce daily necessities favored by people and ones symbolic of their units and impeccable on foreign markets.
In order to solve the issue of raw and other materials for light industry the units tasked to provide funds for the people’s living should increase their roles for the present.
A basic way of solving the issue is to locally produce raw and other materials.
The chemical industry has a big role to play for locally producing those materials.
It is very important to develop the local industry for boosting the production of consumer goods.
The field of light industry should regard it as important task to put light industry on a modern and scientific basis and dynamically push forward it at a high level.
The industrial establishments should have scientists and technicians positively involved in production as required by the trend of developing modern light industry so that they may scientifically analyze all the issues arising in producing goods, improving quality, managing equipment and conducting business activities and solve them by dint of science and technology.
It is important to wage the drive for radically increasing the production of consumer goods through a movement involving all masses and the whole society.
It is necessary to boost the production of varieties of quality consumer goods by waging a widespread August 3 Consumer Goods Production Movement as it was done in the 1980s.
If the field of light industry makes rapid progress ahead of other fields, displaying its vitality, and the whole country intensifies the drive for the production of consumer goods, keeping pace with it, the Party’s plan to radically improve the people’s living standard in near future will be translated into a reality.
Great efforts should be channeled into improving public service while increasing the production of consumer goods.
In order to quickly improve the people’s living standard by bringing about a new turn in the development of light industry the officials in the field of light industry should increase their responsibility and role.
Officials of the ministries and national institutions in the field of light industry should learn about and grasp in detail the overall situation of light industry and actual conditions of the units under them. On this basis they should command in a responsible manner the operations for solving knotty problems and bringing about a new turn in the development of light industry.
The officials in the field of light industry should reject stiffness, schema, stagnation and depression, work in a unique and resilient manner and shape reasonable management and business strategies to ensure expanded reproduction and reenergize production by their own efforts.
The officials should have ardent patriotism, value their own things and make positive efforts to develop them to be better than others’.
Scientists and technicians should solve scientific and technological issues arising in the on-going production in good time and, at the same time, study and round off innovative plans for producing raw materials for light industry locally and putting machines and equipment and production processes on a CNC and automation basis and develop more new varieties of light industrial products and functional goods.
The whole state should attach importance to light industry and channel great efforts into its development.
Various sectors and units of national economy should render positive help to the field of light industry, bearing in mind the Party’s intention to effect a turn in the people’s living in the shortest possible span of time.
The Party organizations should increase their roles in order to rapidly develop light industry.
We have not a few difficulties and bottlenecks at present but light industry has a bright prospect of its development.
As long as there are a solid foundation of light industry provided by President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il through all their lives’ dedication and the people intensely loyal to the Party’s leadership, a turn is sure to be effected in the development of the light industry and our people will fully enjoy wealth and glory under socialism without fail.
The Party Central Committee firmly believes that the officials and workers in the field of light industry will turn out with confidence of victory and bring about a new turn in its development.
Overview of a ceremonny at the KWP Central Committee Conference Hall (L) at which gold wristwatches were presented as “state decorations” by Kim Jong Un (R) as part of events commemorating late leader Kim Jong Il’s birthday (Photos: KCNA, KCNA-Yonhap)
DPRK state media reported on 15 February (Friday) that Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) attended a ceremony at which gold wristwatches were awarded to “service personnel, scientists, technicians and labor innovators who have performed brilliant feats in the defence of the country and in the building of a thriving socialist nation.” The wristwatches are engraved with the late leader Kim Jong Il’s name, and awarded to commemorate the anniversary of KJI’s birth. KJU’s last reported public appearance was his chairing and participating in an expanded meeting of the Korean Workers’ Party [KWP] Central Military Commission [CMC].
Kim Jong Un presents a gold watch bearing his late father’s name. Seen in attendance behind KJU are Kim Ki Nam (L), Kim Yong Nam (2nd L) and Kim Phyong Hae (4th) and behind KJU are officials of the KWP Central Committee Gifts Office (Gifts Hall) (Photo: KCNA-Yonhap)
Kim Jong Un presents a gold wristwatch at a February 2013 ceremony (L) and his late father Kim Jong Il presents a Swiss watch to a member of the Guard Command in July 2011 (R) (Photos: KCNA-Yonhap, KCTV screengrab)
Attending the watch presentation ceremony with KJU were Kim Yong Nam (President of the Supreme People’s Assembly [SPA] Presidium), Choe Yong Rim (DPRK Cabinet Premier), VMar Choe Ryong Hae (Director of the Korean People’s Army [KPA] General Political Department), Jang Song Taek (Vice Chairman of the National Defense Commission [NDC] and Director of the KWP Administration Department), Kim Kyong Hui (KWP Secretary and Department Director), Kim Ki Nam (KWP Secretary and Director of the KWP Propaganda and Agitation Department), Choe Tae Bok (KWP Secretary of Education and Science), Pak To Chun (KWP Secretary of Machine-Building Industry), VMar Kim Yong Chun (Vice Chairman of the NDC and Director of the KWP Civil Defense Department), Kang Sok Ju (DPRK Cabinet Vice Premier), Ri Yong Mu (Vice Chairman of the NDC), Gen. O Kuk Ryol (Vice Chairman of the NDC), Kim Yang Gon (KWP Secretary and Director of the United Front Department), Kim Yong Il (KWP Secretary and Director of the KWP International Affairs Department), Kim Pyong Hae (KWP Secretary and Director of the KWP Cadres Affairs Department), Kwak Pom Gi (KWP Secretary and Director of the KWP Finance and Planning Department), Mun Kyong Dok (Chief Secretary of the Pyongyang City [municipal] KWP Committee), Ju Kyu Chang (Director of the KWP Machine-Building Industry Department), Jo Yon Jun (Senior Deputy (1st Vice) Director of the KWP Organization Guidance Department) and “other officials of the Central Committee of the WPK and armed forces organs.”
According to KCNA the presentation of the watches was “instituted as a state decoration for the first time in the history of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK)” and has “weighty significance in glorifying the immortal exploits of his revolutionary career and immortal feats forever and making all the Party members, service personnel and people live and work as his soldiers and disciples.” The watch presentation ceremony was held at the KWP Central Committee’s Conference Hall. Kim Yong Nam delivered a congratulatory speech in which he said, “The recipients of the watches should lead a worthy and brilliant life as backbone of the Korean revolution, always feeling grateful to the party for making them honored with watches bearing the august name of Kim Jong Il before any others.” After Kim Jong Un presented the watches, the recipients “renewed their resolution to always hold President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in high esteem as the sun of Juche and steadfastly advance along the road of the Songun revolution, true to the leadership of the party.”
Area of the KWP Central Committee #1 Office Complex in central Pyongyang, showing two possible venues for watch presentation ceremony. The ceremony likely occurred in the structure marked Conference Hall #1. (Photo: Google images; lines and placemarks by Michael Madden/NKLW)
A 2010 meeting of borad members of the DPRK State Development Bank, linked to the Taep’ung International Investment Group. In this image are Jon Il Chun (R) and Ro Tu Chol (2nd R) (Photo: KCTV screengrab)
Yonhap News Agencyreported and confirmed on 1 February (Friday) that the Korea Taep’ung International Investment Group has dissolved. Taep’ung began as an energy provider selling oil and gas (via Sinu’iju) to the Korean People’s Army [KPA] and Korean Workers’ Party [KWP] Central Committee. Its leading executive was Pak Chol Su, a Korean resident in China. Through his sales of energy supplies to the party and army, Pak became part of the Pyongyang social scene and eventually developed close ties with senior KPA and KWP officials. In 2006 Taep’ung was formally organized as one of the country’s direct foreign investment entities. Until 2010 there was little reported about Taep’ung’s activities in the country.
In early 2010, Taep’ung was designated as a key investment entity of the DPRK through authorization by Kim Jong Il and the National Defense Commission. On 20 January 2010, the Korea Taep’ung International Investment Group was formally incorporated and held a meeting of its 7 member board of directors in Pyongyang. KWP Secretary and United Front Department Director Kim Yang Gon was appointed director-general of the board in his capacity as Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Peace Committee with Pak Chol Su appointed a deputy director-general of the board. According to DPRK state media Taepu’ng was organized under the auspices of the DPRK National Defense Commission, the DPRK Cabinet and Ministry of Finance and the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee. Incorporated and organized alongside Taepu’ng’s expansion was the State Development Bank, which would be led by Jon Il Chun, a proxy for the National Defense Commission and a close aide to the late leader Kim Jong Il. Jon, also (and currently) a deputy director of the KWP Finance and Accounting Department, was elevated to head the State Development Bank at the same time he was appointed to manage the powerful DPRK conglomerate Taeso’ng Group and as the key head of Office #39, lucrative entities earning foreign currency for the DPRK. Taep’ung had attained such a flavor-of-the-week status that one of its key KPA contacts appeared on an April 2010 military promotions list.
Despite several attempts, including the internal transfer of several state-owned enterprises, and a high profile trip by Jon Il Chun at the head of a large delegation of executives under the auspices of Taepu’ng, the company attained little to no foreign direct investment. There were also unconfirmed (and likely erroneous) rumors Taepu’ng became the business rival to another DPRK entity, reportedly established as a competing venture by Gen. O Kuk Ryol. According to Yonhap, Taep’ung “oversaw the now-suspended joint tourist program in Mount Kumgang on the eastern coast of North Korea” and was dissolved along with “another extra-governmental organization in charge of trade promotion and foreign investment with its work believed to have been reassigned to the government’s Commission for Joint Venture and Investment.” It appears that a lot of direct foreign investment has now been consolidated under the Joint Venture and Investment Commission [JVIC], which is under the direction of Ri Ryong Nam and Ri Chol, along with the heavy hand of the Ryo’ngdoja, Jang Song Taek. There also became problems with Taepu’ng’s Chinese backer Pak Chol Su and it did not help Taepu’ng’s external activities to have the imprimatur of the National Defense Commission, which is subjected to numerous United Nations and unilateral sanctions.
Similarly Taepu’ng’s existence may have presented a fundamental obstacle, or proven the wrong entity, for progress in the development of Special Economic Trade Zones in Rajin-So’nbong (Raso’n) and Hwanggu’mp’yo’ng/Wihwa Islands. Of course, one corporation is but a small obstruction to howeverUnited Nations Security Council reacts to the potential nuclear test. And yet, development in Raso’n (despite what one might read in the general lit.) seems to making some progress, likely in anticipation of the thaw of Unggi Bay. It remains to be seen if the upcoming nuclear detonation and its UNSC blowback will affect the activities and formation of various PRC-DPRK development working groups (anchored in China) in late December 2012, and the signing of additional and explicit agreements on infrastructure and design using both DPRK and Chinese entities (no one will use the term iron-clad, just yet).
On 23 January, Chinese media reported that the DPRK Government approved the opening of a Chinese commercial bank primarily to settle transactions in Raso’n. The bank was founded and a ribbon cutting ceremony held on 18 January. According to Hunchun Rexian “Chinese Commercial Bank was put together and founded by China Gold Trade Exchange (Dalian) Company Ltd. The bank’s primary business is renminbi settlement, handling letter of credit, bill of exchange, letter of guarantee, and guaranty for cross-border renminbi transactions, and offering savings, loans, banking, and other financial services. Chinese Commercial Bank was founded to conform with the needs of massive development of Sino- DPRK economic and trade at present as well as the needs of the “Outline of General Program for Joint Development and Joint Management of Naso’n Economic and Trade Zone As Well As Hwanggu’mp’yo’ng Economic Zone,” which was signed by China and the DPRK; it will act as a bridge and a bond in promoting and safeguarding Sino-DPRK economic and trade development.” Hunchun (PRC) Vice Mayor Ren Puyu said that, ”Agreement on Joint Development and Joint Management of Raso’n Economic and Trade Zone” between the Chinese and the DPRK governments, and is the bridge and bond for serving Sino-DPRK financial cooperation and trade interactions; it will definitely play a positive role in promoting Sino-DPRK economic and trade interactions as well as economic prosperity in the future.”
