hankyoreh

By Kim Kyu-won, staff reporter

Kim Jong-un’s appointment as marshal of North Korea is the latest in a string of sudden developments that show the growing influence of Jang Song-thaek and Choi Ryong-hae in the country’s leadership.

With Kim’s designation coming on the heels of Ri Yong-ho’s dismissal as People’s Army Chief of General Staff on July 15 and Hyon Yong-chol’s promotion to vice marshal on July 17, Jang, the director of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), confirmed his role as guardian for the freshly installed Kim regime, as some had predicted at the time of Kim Jong-il’s death. Choi, the director of the military’s politburo, also solidified his own standing as a force in the administration.

Experts and government officials said Wednesday that the latest developments served to firmly establish a regime centering on Kim Jong-un on one side and Jang and Choi on the other.

Choi’s rise has been especially striking. Many were skeptical when the former party bureaucrat took over as politburo chief, the top position in the People‘s Army, expecting him to have difficulty getting the military in hand amid the increased authority it enjoyed from the regime’s Songun (military first) policies. The latest events, however, suggest he has emerged triumphant from a power battle with Ri, who had been the military’s most influential figure.

Choi is the second son of Choi Hyon, a close colleague of Kim Il-sung during their days fighting the Japanese. He is also a former Minister of People’s Armed Forces.

Choi Ryong-hae’s standing and power as politburo chief are no longer in doubt. Ri, who was more or less his only competition, is now out of the picture, and newly appointed vice marshal Hyon is expected to be farther down the totem pole.

Party control over the military also looks like it will become more rigid. Traditionally, the party has had pride of place in all matters in socialist countries, North Korea included. But the Songun policy saw the military that protected the regime coming to enjoy much more larger role as the country went through the hardships of the late 1990s and the March of Tribulation.

Inje University professor Kim Yeon-chul said Choi’s primary role had been to normalize relations between the party and the military, which has now ostensibly been accomplished.

“We can expect to see Jang and Choi having a substantive role in leading the party and the country going ahead,” Kim said.

Meanwhile, Jang Song-thaek, Kim Jong-un's uncle by marriage, appears poised to move up himself as a supporter of Kim Jong-un and Choi Ryong-hae. Observers believe he functioned as a mediator between Kim and Choi during the latest events. This has many expecting greater influence in the future for the Cabinet and technocrats that Jang favors.

An official in South Korea’s Ministry of Unification said the recent developments could lead to a more active role from new Cabinet arrivals such as Kim In-sik, Ri Kwang-gun, Ri Sung-ho, Ri Chol-man, and Choi Kwang-rae in improving North Korea’s economy.

Jang Yong-seok, a researcher at the Seoul National University Institute for Peace and Unification Studies, said Jang was likely to be the one sketching out the big picture for the Pyongyang regime.

“His authority is only going to grow in the short term, and we may see some tensions forming between him and Kim Jong-un, whose long-term interests are going to be in a regime without challengers,” Jang said.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]