Kim Jong-gak

Korean spelling
Chosŏn'gŭl	김정각
Hancha	金正 閣
Revised Romanization	Gim Jeong-gak
McCune- Reischauer	Kim Chŏngkak
See also : Korean name

Kim Jong-gak (born July 13, 1941 in the P'yŏngan-namdo province ) is a North Korean politician of the Labor Party of Korea (PdAK) and Vice-Marshal of the Korean People's Army (KVA), who among other things is Minister for the People 's Armed Forces , member of the Politburo of the Central Committee (ZK) of the PdAK and a member of the National Defense Commission . Since his resignation from these functions he has only been a member of the Central Committee of the PdAK and a deputy of the Supreme People's Assembly .

Life

Officer and Deputy Minister for the People's Armed Forces

After attending school, Kim Jong-gak graduated from Kim-Il-sung Military University and subsequently became an officer in the People's Army. During his military career, he served as a battalion commander , deputy commander of a corps, and as head of training facilities.

At the 19th plenary session of the 6th Central Committee he was elected in December 1991 as a candidate of the Party Central Committee and a few months later in April 1992 , Colonel General transported. At the 20th plenary session of the 6th Central Committee, he was elected member of the Central Committee of the PdAK in December 1992 and immediately afterwards was appointed Vice Minister for the People's Armed Forces, although no special area of ​​responsibility was assigned to him within the Ministry. His importance in the party and military hierarchy was illustrated by his membership in the burial committees for Kim Il-sung in July 1994 and O Chin-u in February 1995.

In 1998 Kim was elected for the first time as a deputy of the Supreme People's Assembly and has been a member of it ever since. In September 1998 he was confirmed as Vice Minister for the People's Armed Forces at the opening plenary session of the 10th Supreme People's Assembly and subsequently took on leadership roles within the Ministry in political activities at the People's Army headquarters, as well as in military parades and other public events of the armed forces.

General and growing influence within the military hierarchy

Kim Jong-gak, who was promoted to general in April 2002 , first appeared in foreign state press reports in 2004 because of his participation in meetings with foreign delegations. He was also a representative of the People's Army at the accreditation of military attachés and at meetings and receptions for allies such as Russia , Uganda , Cuba and the People's Republic of China . In 2006, he was part of a group that met with then Defense Minister of the People's Republic of China, Cao Gangchuan, during his visit to Pyongyang . In October 2006, he gave the keynote address at a ceremony to test nuclear technology in Kim Il-sung Square .

In 2007, Kim Jong-gak was one of the members of a delegation when Kim Jong-il visited the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in North Korea and in October 2007 at a major sporting event. Another indication of its growing importance came in 2008 when he twice accompanied Kim Jong-il on visits to Kumsusan Palace , the mausoleum for Kim Jong-il's father, Kim Il-sung. In August 2008, while Kim Jong-il was recovering from a stroke, he delivered another keynote address commemorating Kim Jong-il's assumption of the leadership of Sŏn'gun . He was also responsible for receiving a delegation from the Vietnamese People's Army on a visit to North Korea in September 2008 .

At the first session of the 12th Supreme People's Assembly on April 9, 2009, Kim Jong-gak was officially elected a member of the Extended National Defense Commission. In the period that followed, according to reports by the state media, he was one of Kim Jong-il's companions at concerts and military inspections thirty times. In July 2009, he took eleventh place on a podium at a memorial service commemorating the 15th anniversary of Kim Il-sung's death. In November 2009, he headed a delegation from the Department of Political Affairs of the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces on an official visit to the People's Republic of China, during which he toured Beijing and Jilin . In late 2009, he gave the keynote address at a national meeting in honor of the military hero O Jung-hup .

In May 2010, General Kim presided over a ceremony at the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces where bronze statues of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il and his mother Kim Jong-suk were unveiled. He was responsible for the first published main speech in honor of the unveiling of a statue for Kim Jong-il.

Appointment as Minister of Defense and dismissal

Kim Jong-gak is part of a group of politicians and military figures of the second and third generation of North Korea who rose to the center of political power since the end of 2008. During this time he appeared on several occasions together with General Ri Yong-ho , the chief of the General Staff of the People's Army, who like him is one of the hardliners who reject relations with the USA and South Korea and are suspicious of bilateral relations between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and other countries see. During the transfer of power to Kim Jong-un , he played a leading role in education and indoctrination within the People's Army.

At the third party conference on September 28, 2010, Kim was elected a member of the military committee of the Central Committee and a candidate for the Politburo of the Central Committee of the PdAK.

Kim, who was promoted to Vice-Marshal in February 2012, was appointed Minister for the People's Armed Forces in April 2012 as successor to Kim Y -ng-ch'un and a member of the Central Committee's Politburo. Only seven months later, however, he was dismissed as defense minister in November 2012 and replaced by the former chief of the general staff and previous deputy minister for the people's armed forces, Kim Kyok-sik .

At a meeting of the Central Committee of the PdAK in March 2013, he was removed from the Politburo of the Central Committee and at the seventh session of the 12th Supreme People's Assembly “due to the transfer of other tasks”, he was also dismissed from his function as a member of the National Defense Commission. Nevertheless, he remained on the podium during the session of the Supreme People's Assembly and continued to appear with other members of the state and party leadership.

Web links

• Biography in North Korea Leadership Watch

Individual evidence

1. ↑ North Korea's head of state appoints hardliners as defense minister . In: Der Stern from November 29, 2012
2. ↑ Kim Jong Gak, North Korea Defense Minister, Reportedly Replaced With Hardline Military Commander Kim Kyok Sik ( Memento of the original dated December 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: The Huffington Post, November 29, 2012 
3. ^ North Korean defense minister replaced with former military commander. Analysts say move is part of Kim Jong-un's efforts to consolidate control of military . In: The Hankyoreh of November 30, 2012
4. ↑ North Korea. Was there an assassination attempt on dictator Kim Jong-un? . In: Die Welt from March 25, 2013

predecessor	Office	successor
Kim Yŏng-ch'un	Defense Minister of North Korea 2012	Kim Kyok-sik

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Kim is the family name here, Jong-gak is the first name.