North Korean leader’s top enforcer next to be purged
THE chief of North Korea’s powerful secret police, long considered the right-hand man for the top leader, Kim Jong-un, has been dismissed on charges of corruption and abuse of power, the South Korean government said on Friday.
The firing of the chief, General Kim Won-hong, as minister of state security highlights the turmoil that has engulfed the upper reaches of Kim Jong-un’s government.
The general is the latest in a series of high-ranking party and military officials Kim has fired, demoted or executed as he tried to consolidate his totalitarian power through what South Korean officials and North Korean defectors have called a “reign of terror”.
Kim Won-hong was fired in mid-Jan- uary after he was demoted to a one-star general from a four-star one, said Jeong Joon-hee, a spokesman for the South’s Unification Ministry.
The general’s surprise downfall was the latest indication that even Kim Jongun’s top lieutenants are at risk as Kim Jong-un has rival agencies monitor one another to detect and punish any sign of disrespect or disloyalty. Until his dismissal, Kim Won-hong had been Kim Jong-un’s chief henchman in purging potential enemies.
“Kim Won-hong has been a key aide to Kim Jong-un and has buttressed his reign of terror,” Jeong said. “His dismissal could further deepen unrest among officials and add to the instability of the regime by weakening its control on the people.”
Jeong said KimWon-hong was accused of corruption and held responsible for various human rights violations, including torture, committed at his agency. But other political machinations could be at play behind the dismissal, Jeong said, citing speculation about a rivalry among different power centres.
Jeong noted that the dismissal resulted from an investigation by another powerful agency, the Organization and Guidance Department of the governing Workers’ Party of North Korea. The department supervises all state agencies and is reportedly directly overseen by Kim Jong-un.
“The Organization and Guidance Department is conducting an intensive investigation of KimWon-hong and the Ministry of State Security, so the level of punishment and the number of people affected could be expanded,” Jeong said, without disclosing how the South Korean government learned of the reported purge transpiring inside a secretive regime.
The Ministry of State Security, which serves as the secret police and intelligence agency in the North, is one of the most feared tools of government there, responsible for arresting dissidents and running a network of prison gulags.
Since taking power after the death of his father in 2011, Kim Jong Un has frequently reshuffled the party and military elites as he has moved swiftly to establish his monolithic authority in North Korea, which his family has ruled for seven decades. Kim has executed at least 140 senior officials, usually killing them with machine guns and even flamethrowers, according to the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank affiliated with the South’s National Intelligence Service.