Hawkish NK general may handle S.Korea
By Yi Whan-woo
Gen. Kim Yong-chol
A hawkish army general is said to have been appointed to replace Kim Yang-gon, who the regime in Pyongyang said died in a car accident last month, as Kim Jong-un’s point-man on inter-Korean affairs, according to government sources, Wednesday.
According to the sources, Gen. Kim Yong-chol is now a secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party and the director of the United Front Department (UFD), a government body that handles cross-border issues.
Both seats were previously occupied by the late Kim.
“With Kim Yong-chol being a party secretary, it means Pyongyang is likely to turn to a hard-line policy toward Seoul,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.
Kim Yong-chol will be Pyongyang’s first military official to be in charge of inter-Korean affairs, if the information is verified.
Since 2009, the Army general has led the Reconnaissance General Bureau tasked with intelligence operations in foreign countries and cyber warfare.
He is suspected of orchestrating a series of military attacks against South Korea.
These include the sinking of the South Korean naval frigate Cheonan in March 2010 which resulted in the deaths of 46 seamen; the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in November 2010 that killed two soldiers and two civilians; and the detonation of landmines on the south side of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in August 2015 that wounded two South Korean soldiers.
It is also thought that his bureau was behind the alleged hacking of Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2014 in retaliation for the firm’s movie, “The Interview,” that portrayed a fictional assassination of the North Korean leader.
Kim Yong-chol has participated in inter-Korean dialogues several times since late 1980s.
In 2014, he led a North Korean delegation when the two sides failed to strike a deal after an exchange of fire over the Northern Limit Line in the West Sea.
He joined the inter-Korean defense ministerial talks in 2007 while serving as Pyongyang’s defense minister.
An analyst said that Kim has been a key confidant to the North Korean leader for a number of years.
“A photo taken in 2010 shows Kim sitting to the right of Kim Jong-un and it means the hard-line general was favored by the young leader,” said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior researcher at the Sejong Institute. “Under Kim’s leadership, the UFD is now likely to focus on espionage activities and stirring up inter-Korean conflict instead of dealing with cross-border issues peacefully.”