By Jung Sung-ki
North Korea's former premier Pak Pong-ju has returned to power with a post in the communist state’s Workers' Party more than three years after he was allegedly ousted due to his failed economic reform drive, according to a Pyongyang report Saturday.
The North's Korean Central Broadcasting Station introduced Pak as the “first deputy director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea” in a report on the 50th founding ceremony of the famed Okryu Restaurant in Pyongyang Friday with a number of senior government and party officials.
There is no other known figure with the same name among the North Korean power-holding elite.
Pak, a long-time industry technocrat and pragmatist, was named premier of the North's Cabinet in September 2003.
He spearheaded the North's so-called July 1st Economic Measure reform drive toward market economy, which aimed to give more autonomy to state firms and gradually reduce state rationing of food and daily necessities.
But his strong initiative triggered a backlash from the party and the military that resulted in his dismissal. Pak was suspended from duty in June 2006 on charges of fund misappropriation and was fired in April the following year.
Kim Yong-il, then land and marine transport minister, replaced him.
Pak was believed to have been demoted to a managerial post at a clothing factory outside Pyongyang.
North Korea experts view Pak’s reinstatement as a sign of a shifting North Korean economic policy toward pragmatism in the wake of its failed currency reform last year.
In an effort to curb the burgeoning merchant class and strengthen its socialist system, North Korea implemented a surprise currency reform in November, knocking two zeros off its denomination. But the move backfired, worsening food shortages and triggering social unrest.
Apparently taking responsibility for the botched reform, Premier Kim Yong-il was replaced by Choe Yong-rim in June.
Pak is believed to be a close aide to Jang Song-thaek, vice chairman of the National Defense Commission and brother-in-law of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Jang is seen as the central figure in grooming Kim's third and youngest son, Jong-un, as the next leader.
Japan's Mainichi Shimbun reported on Aug. 15, quoting multiple sources, that Pak and about 20 other figures close to Jang had been reinstated over the past two years. The report also said Pak has risen to the second highest spot in the party's light industry department, which is headed by Kim Kyong-hui, Kim Jong-il's sister and Jang's wife.