NK's Choe Ryong-hae losing ground

Choe Ryong-hae’s rise in power as the second-in-command of North Korea is as shaky as it gets with him being described as a “womanizer” and a “sycophant.” / Yonhap

Choe Ryong-hae’s rise in power as the second-in-command of North Korea is as shaky as it gets with him being described as a “womanizer” and a “sycophant,” Radio Free Asia reported Jan. 23.

North Koreans came to know that the vice marshal of North Korea’s People’s Liberation Army was allegedly behind the recent purge of Jang Song-thaek, the uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and they are turning against Choe, finding fault with his past, it reported.

When Kim Jong-il, the father of Kim Jong-un, was alive, he was known to treat his closest aide Choe with great affection.

Kim gave Choe the same hand-made outfit that he himself wore in celebration of the success of the 13th North Korean Youth Festival in 1997 under Choe’s command.

But the power at hand corrupted Choe from then onwards. A case in point is selling tons of bronze, one of the country’s richest natural resources, to China and keeping the cash which was supposed to be for the North Korean Youth Festival the following year.

At the time every high ranking official as well as ordinary North Koreans hated Choe to the point that he was never considered a candidate for a “man of power,” it reported.

However, Kim Jong-un, in his nascent stage of ruling, kept Choe as one of his closest confidants, letting the man have his way into solidifying his power grip.

Choe was given virtually all the control of the country’s military business, and he also filled the important position with his minions where he made the seats available by firing some of the occupants.

“Choe is deemed satanic in North Korea. He has no connections except Kim Jong-un, and has a horrible reputation. He won’t have political grounds to popularize himself,” the source was quoted as saying.