Kim Won-hong

Korean spelling
Chosŏn'gŭl	김원홍
Hancha	金元弘
Revised Romanization	Gim Won-hong
McCune- Reischauer	Kim Wŏnhong
See also : Korean name

Kim Won-hong (born April 17, 1945 in Hwanghae-pukto ) is a North Korean politician of the Labor Party of Korea (PdAK) and general of the Korean People's Army (KVA), former Minister of State Security from 2012 to 2017, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee (Central Committee) of the PdAK and a member of the Central Military Committee of the Central Committee. Furthermore, he is a member of the Central Committee of the PdAK and a deputy of the Supreme People's Assembly and between 2004 and 2010 was the commander of the military security command, which monitors, examines and supervises officers and military installations. During this time he was a constant companion of Kim Jong-il on his visits to military installations and facilities in North Korea.

Life

Kim Won-hong joined the People's Army in November 1962 and, after attending the Kim-Il-sung Party School, worked as an instructor, section head and deputy head of a department in the Political Department of the People's Army and as a political officer in an army corps. He first appeared for foreign observers at the funeral of the Minister for the People's Armed Forces, Marshal Ch'oe Kwang , in 1997. During his military career he was employed as deputy head of the organizational department of the main political department of the People's Army and as commanding general of the VII. Army Corps and the IX. Army Corps, both of which have links to the Military Security Command. Due to the involvement in various scandals, he was temporarily demoted from the rank of colonel general to lieutenant general .

After the death of the long-time commander of the Military Security Command, General Won Ung-hui , he was his successor in 2004 and was promoted to general in this capacity in April 2009. In 2010 he was seconded to Kim Jong-un for special use in order to prepare him for a takeover after Kim Jong-il's death.

At the third party conference on September 28, 2010, Kim Won-hong was elected a member of both the Central Committee and the Central Military Committee of the PdAK and sat next to Kim Jong-un during this conference. Since Kim Jong-il's death on December 17, 2011, he has also been a regular companion of Kim Jong-un during his inspections of units of the People's Army and is one of the four high-ranking members of the People's Army who were selected to support Kim Jong-uns.

General Kim, who afterwards increasingly made public appearances, for example on International Women's Day on March 8, 2012 with the Unhasu National Orchestra in Pyongyang , was also elected a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the PdAK on April 11, 2012. In 2012 he was appointed Minister of State Security to succeed Ri Chun-su .

In mid-January 2017, Won-hong was dismissed from his post as State Security Minister after he was accused of abuse of power, corruption and human rights violations by the Labor Party of Korea.

Web links

• Biography in North Korea Leadership Watch
• Short biography (PDF; 9 kB) in NK Leadership Watch
• Brief History of Member of Presidium, Members and Alternate Members of Political Bureau of CC, WPK Elected to Fill Vacancies ( Korean Central News Agency , April 12, 2011)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Kim Jong Un dismisses security minister. In: The time. February 3, 2017, accessed February 3, 2017 . 
2. ↑ N. Korea Purged senior intelligence official: source . In: Yonhap News Agency, April 17, 2012
3. ^ NSA on the Edge: Gen. Kim Won Hong and the National Security Agency's Rise to Prominence on the Frontier . In: Sino-NK (April 24, 2012)
4. ^ The Ministries for People's Security and State Security: New Heavyweights in North Korea's Power Structure? . In: North Korea Info from December 3, 2012
5. ↑ (3rd LD) NK leader sacks chief of spy agency: Seoul. Yonhap Newsagency, February 3, 2017, accessed February 3, 2017 . 

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, Won-hong is the first name.