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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| NorthÂ’s military strengthens its grip |
| 2009-04-21 |
| North Korea’s military has bolstered its authority over several key policy-making issues after a major restructuring of the country’s ruling Workers’ Party, South Korean intelligence sources told the JoongAng Ilbo. The moves, experts say, create a bit of a power shift by eroding the influence of the North’s ruling party in several areas, including matters involving the South. The restructuring also diminishes the roles of some party members who have taken a more conciliatory stance on affairs with the South. One source said the changes could explain a recent increase in bellicose statements coming from the North. “This has led to a hard-line policy that the North has adopted on South Korea of late,” the source said. According to sources, the Workers’ Party has moved its operations department to the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces, which handles management and operational control of the North Korean military. The operations department is responsible for managing espionage agents. “Though it has been in the party’s organizational tree, the operations department had been essentially carrying out military tasks,” a source said. “When the department head, O Kuk-ryol, was named a vice chairman of the National Defense Commission [in February], the department itself was shifted to the armed forces ministry in what seemed to be a logical step.” In another change, the party’s research department and external liaison department will now be under the control of the National Defense Commission, which is defined in the North Korean constitution as the nation’s top military organ. The research department collects intelligence on South Korea and other nations, while the external liaison department is responsible for training and dispatching agents. Military officers have become increasingly visible. Lieutenant General Kim Yong-chol, head of the policy bureau at the National Defense Commission, made a surprise visit to the Kaesong Industrial Complex late last year. A spokesman for the General Staff of the North’s Korean People’s Army has appeared on the official Korean Central News Agency’s television program, in full military uniform, to read statements against the South. Only the United Front Department remains within the Workers’ Party to handle inter-Korean dialogue and the North’s policy on the South, and experts say it has lost much of its influence. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 Which ties in with the peculiarity of some of Kimmie's actions as of late. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2009-04-21 11:34 |
| #1 ION FREEREPUBLIC > EXCLUSIVE: NORTH KOREA [quietly] PREPARING FOR SECOND NUCLEAR TEST. Inspector claims NK's recent provocations are PCorrect cover for setting up for a new nuke test??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-04-21 00:51 |