Ri Myong-su

Korean spelling
Chosŏn'gŭl	리명수
Hancha	李明洙
Revised Romanization	Ri Myeong-su
McCune- Reischauer	Ri Myŏngsu
See also : Korean name

Ri Myong-su (born February 20, 1934 or 1938 in Myŏngch'ŏn-gun , Hamgyŏng-pukto ) is a North Korean politician of the Labor Party of Korea (PdAK) and General of the Korean People's Army (KVA), the Minister for People's Security, member of the Politburo of the Central Committee (ZK) of the PdAK as well as a member of the National Defense Commission . At the moment he is still a member of the Central Committee of the PdAK and a deputy of the 12th Supreme People's Assembly . Ri was one of the military advisers to the ruler Kim Jong-il, who died on December 17, 2011 .

Life

Promotion to general and head of the operations department of the People's Army

Ri Myong-su joined the People's Army in July 1950 during the Korean War and then graduated from Kim-Il-sung Military University . After graduation, he served in various operational and command functions in the V Army Corps in the 1960s and 1970s. In November 1980 he was appointed director of the Museum for the Patriotic War of Liberation in Pyongyang , before he was used for various purposes in the III. Army Corps found.

After Ri Myong-su was promoted to lieutenant general in April 1992 , he was appointed chief of staff of III in December 1993. Army Corps appointed. His service in the III. Army Corps, which forms the outer defensive ring around Pyongyang, took place during a major change in senior officers and the formal transition from Kim Il-sung to Kim Jong-il, which earned him the favor and trust of Kim Jong-il.

In 1995 he was promoted to Colonel General and as such was appointed head of the Operations Department of the General Staff of the People's Army in November 1996 and was thus also First Vice-Chief of the General Staff. In this position he was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the ground, sea, air and air defense forces. In the event of a war or national crisis, the head of the operations department assumes control of the interface between the high command, the conventional armed forces, the reserve units and the civil defense brigades.

After his appointment, he also became a constant companion of Kim Jong-il on his inspection trips, whereby he usually also took part in these inspections, General Hyon Chol-hae , the deputy head of the main political department and head of the logistics department. Ri and Hyon became Kim Jon-il's public aides in the 1990s and 2000s. His presence at the side of Kim Jong-il in the state media was so widespread that he appeared on commemorative stamps, although his social and personal relationships with the ruler were not particularly close. The connections to the inner circle around Kim Jong-il came about through his connections to the now deceased Vice-Marshal Jang Song-u , who at the time was commander of the III. Army Corps was Chief of Staff of this major military unit when Ri was.

Ri Myong-su, who was first elected deputy of the Supreme People's Assembly in July 1998 and was promoted to general in October 2000, was next to General Hyon, General Pak Jae-gyong , later chairman of the Council of Ministers Choe Yong-rim , between 2003 and 2006 , and several others a member of the People's Army Command Group for Special Operations. This group, which was assigned to Kim Jong-il in his function as commander-in-chief of the People's Army, led the planning of contingents and operations within North Korea after the 2003 Iraq war by the US Army and its coalition forces.

In 2007 General Ri moved to the National Defense Commission (NPC), where he became head of its administrative office. In this position he was responsible for the day-to-day business of the NPC for political planning, logistics and finance. His connections to the current ruler Kim Jong-un began during this time due to his activity as his tutor and companion on inspection trips.

Minister for People's Security and Dismissal

On the third party conference in September 2010 Ri Myung-si was elected a member of the Central Committee of the WPK and nominated for People's safety at the 4th session of the 12th Supreme People's Assembly in April 2011 to the Minister after the former Minister General Chu Sang-song for involvement because of corruption and lax personnel management. In April 2012, Ri was elected a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee, the Central Military Committee of the PdAK and the National Defense Commission.

In February 2013, Ri Myong-su was dismissed as Minister for People's Security and at the meeting of the Central Committee in March 2013, he was also recalled as a member of the Central Committee's Politburo. In addition, he was also dismissed as a member of the National Defense Commission at the seventh session of the 12th Supreme People's Assembly.

Head of the General Staff

On February 21, 2016, North Korean media reported that Ri Myong-su was the head of the General Staff of the People's Army. Ri was shown during military exercises of the army and the air force monitored by Kim Jong-un. Ri succeeds Ri Yong-gil , who is said to have been executed in February 2016 for group formation and corruption. Ri Myong-su is a rocket science expert.

Web links

• Biography in North Korea Leadership Watch
• CV (PDF; 55 kB) in NK Leadershipwatch

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Burden of Kim the Third . In: Focus of November 27, 2011
2. ↑ Has Another Senior North Korean Figure Gone Missing? . In: NK News
3. ↑ North Korea exchanges top government personnel / speculation about economic reforms sparked  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Berliner Umschau from April 2, 2013  
4. ^ North Korea confirms new military chief in: Global Times , February 22, 2016, p. 8, accessed February 24, 2016

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Ri is the family name here, Myong-su is the first name.