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Kim Further Consolidates Power as North Korea’s Leader
Leader Tightens Hold on Power In North Korea
(about 1 hour later)
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, was re-elected as head of his country’s top governing agency as its rubber-stamp Parliament met in Pyongyang on Wednesday to help consolidate his power by filling top leadership posts vacated by recent purges.
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, was re-elected as head of his country’s top governing agency as its rubber-stamp Parliament met in Pyongyang on Wednesday to help consolidate his power by filling top leadership posts vacated by recent purges.
Mr. Kim’s re-election as first chairman of the National Defense Commission indicated that he remained firmly in control despite tightened United Nations sanctions and political upheavals that have rocked the government. Since taking over the reins of power after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, in late 2011, Mr. Kim has engineered a series of purges, sidelining many military leaders and members of the ruling Workers’ Party elite. Last December, he executed Jang Song-thaek, his uncle, who had long been presumed to be the second most influential man in Pyongyang.
Mr. Kim’s re-election as first chairman of the National Defense Commission indicated that he remained firmly in control despite tightened United Nations sanctions and political upheavals that have rocked the government.
Mr. Kim revamped the Supreme People’s Assembly early last month by calling a general election in which state-appointed candidates ran unopposed and all the deputies won their seats with 100 percent support. On Wednesday, the legislature met in Pyongyang in a session widely seen as a formality in which Mr. Kim would fill key governing posts left vacant by the purges with younger cadres who would owe their loyalty directly to him.
Since succeeding his father, Kim Jong-il, in late 2011, Mr. Kim has sidelined many military leaders and members of the ruling Workers’ Party elite. In December, he executed Jang Song-thaek, his uncle, who had long been presumed to be the second most influential man in Pyongyang.
Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae, the top political officer in the North Korean People’s Army who has emerged as a rising star under Mr. Kim, was elected as one of the three vice chairmen of the National Defense Commission on Wednesday, filling a post vacated by Mr. Jang's execution.
Mr. Kim revamped the Supreme People’s Assembly early last month by calling a general election in which state-appointed candidates ran unopposed and all the members won their seats with 100 percent support.
Mr. Choe, 64, "is now the true No. 2 man in the Kim Jong-un regime," said Cheong Seong-chang, an analyst at Sejong Institute in South Korea. Under Mr. Kim, Mr. Choe had already been awarded two other top jobs: he is a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea and vice chairman of the party's Central Military Commission.
On Wednesday, the legislature met in Pyongyang in a session widely seen as a formality in which Mr. Kim would fill key posts left vacant by the purges with younger cadres who would owe their loyalty to him.
On Wednesday, the Supreme People’s Assembly also replaced several cabinet ministers, including those in charge of crude oil and coal and metal industries.
Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae, the top political officer in the North Korean People’s Army who has emerged as a rising star under Mr. Kim, was elected as one of the three vice chairmen of the National Defense Commission on Wednesday, filling a post vacated by Mr. Jang’s execution.
Ri Su-yong replaced Pak Ui-chun as foreign minister. Mr. Ri spent many years in Switzerland as a diplomat, serving as North Korean ambassador there from 1998 to 2010. During his time there, he was widely believed to have been a caretaker for Mr. Kim, who reportedly studied in a Swiss school as teenager.
Vice Marshal Choe, 64, “is now the true No. 2 man in the Kim Jong-un regime,” said Cheong Seong-chang, an analyst at the Sejong Institute in South Korea. On Wednesday, the Supreme People’s Assembly also replaced several cabinet ministers, including those in charge of the oil and coal and metal industries.
Yet Mr. Kim also appeared to stress continuity, retaining Kim Yong-nam, 86, as president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, who serves as a nominal head of state, and Pak Pong-ju as premier, a post in charge of the economy. Mr. Pak, a technocrat who assumed the top economic job under Mr. Kim, has been championing some autonomy in factories and farms to increase productivity.
Yet Mr. Kim also appeared to emphasize continuity, retaining Kim Yong-nam, 86, as president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, who serves as a nominal head of state, and Pak Pong-ju as premier, a post in charge of the economy.
Kim Jong-un's re-election to the top leadership role at the National Defense Commission on Wednesday reflected “the unchanged will of the military and the people to uphold and follow the respected marshal as the only center of solidarity and leadership,” said the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency, or K.C.N.A., citing Mr. Kim’s military rank.
In a parliamentary session two years ago, Mr. Kim assumed the top leadership role at the National Defense Commission, which had emerged as the North’s main governing agency under his father.
On the eve of the parliamentary gathering, the Political Bureau of the Workers’ Party met on Tuesday to discuss organizational issues, the K.C.N.A. reported without elaborating. The Political Bureau was last appointed in April 2012, when Mr. Kim was going through a sensitive transition into power. A few key bureau members, including Mr. Jang, have since been toppled and were probably replaced during the meeting on Tuesday.
Personnel decisions made at the back-to-back party and parliamentary meetings this week will provide outside analysts with a glimpse of Mr. Kim’s world, who is rising and who is falling. His ascent to power has been marked by frequent purges and reshuffles in the party and among military elites as Mr. Kim has tried to put his stamp on the new leadership lineup.
In the North Korean Constitution, the Parliament has the power to replace cabinet ministers and members of the National Defense Commission, where Mr. Jang had been a senior member. It also adopts guidelines on key policy issues, such as the North’s nuclear weapons development.
During the party meeting on Tuesday, Mr. Kim also proposed working to improve the people’s living standards and “protect the dignity and independence of the nation,” a phrase the North often uses when referring to its efforts to strengthen its nuclear arsenal.
The K.C.N.A. did not elaborate. But the North has recently warned that it could carry out a “new form of nuclear test.”
Almost exactly a year ago, Mr. Kim presided over a Workers’ Party meeting to adopt a “new strategic line” that defied warnings from Washington. The party said North Korea must continue expanding its nuclear arsenal while working to rebuild its economy. It called the North’s nuclear weapons “the nation’s life” and “not a political bargaining chip.”
The North’s Parliament quickly followed through by enacting a law on “consolidating the position of nuclear weapons state.” Its nuclear energy department then said it would put all its nuclear facilities — including its operational uranium-enrichment program and reactors that were mothballed or under construction — to use in expanding the country’s nuclear weaponry.
