Thread by @SungYoonLee1

#KCNA 8/14: #KimJongUn relieved Premier Kim Jae Ryong of #DPRK Cabinet & appointed Kim Tok Hun new premier.

Before much meaningless verbiage is spilled over the meaning of this, here's former NK diplomat @Thaeyongho on hierarchy & myth of "Military-First Politics." My tr. 1/

“Many N. Korea experts in the South assessed that in the wake of Kim Jong Il brandishing his “Military Politics” slogan during the famine of the late-1990s, power in the DPRK had shifted from the party to the military. Since Kim Jong Un came to power," 2/
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"they offered up the analysis that power had shifted back from the military to the party. Some assess who is No. 2 and No. 3 etc. in the hierarchy based on nominal rank alone. All this is an empty feast of words due to ignorance of the role of the central party." 3/

“The fundamental mission of the Dept. of Organization and Guidance [OGD] and the Dept. of Propaganda and Agitation [PAD] of the Workers’ Party of Korea is to establish and preserve the Supreme Leader’s, respectively, unitary leadership system and unitary ideology system." 4/

"The OGD dominate and controls the entire society. It has full authority to exercise personnel decisions, censorship, and punishment vis-à-vis high raking officials. It is the most power organization. From the very first day of the founding of the DPRK to today, the OGD & PAD" 5/

"have been the two axes on which the party has controlled the entire North Korean society. In N. Korea, power rank has no meaning. For example, even though Premier Pak Bong Ju may officially be ranked 3rd or 4th, he has no authority to appoint any member to or remove anyone" 6/

"from the cabinet. Power in N. Korea is determined by who has authority over decisions on personnel matters, commendation & punishment within the organization & its subsidiary organizations. The person who has these powers over the cabinet is the OGD chief of each ministry" 7/

"& bureaus within the party. In the end, the OGD is the control tower of N. Korea & it controls all ministries and bureaus. To illustrate, the National Defense Commission cannot guide the OGD, but the OGD can, through the General Political Bureau of the Korean People’s Army" 8/

"surveille & control the National Defense Commission.” (264)

In sum, the ruler and his immediate family are on top, OGD is the control tower, and whoever is in the ruler's good graces & has daily access to him, or runs or controls the OGD is the next big shot. #MilitaryFifth

@threadreaderapp unroll please.