NK No.2 Choe's secret affair receives new spotlight

By Ko Dong-hwan

Choe Ryong-hae

North Korea’s new scandal involving the state’s second-in-command Choe Ryong-hae and a woman 17 years younger is emerging as a hotbed among the public, Chosun Ilbo said Tuesday.

A source revealed the woman’s name is Yeom Sol-mi, 47, who shared a relationship with Choe when he was the first secretary of Chongnyon Society of the Communist Party.

It was revealed that Yeom is from a Korean-Japanese family repatriated to North Korea. The source added the rumor has delivered significant impact to the state’s conservative demotic perception.

Free Radio Asia, cited by the source, said that Choe is cornered by another illicit rumor involving the state’s first lady Ri Sol-ju.

The development is pumping the country’s currently salient Achilles tendon: High-ranking officials’ alleged scandals with women.

The source pointed out the changed prospective for women in North Korea as a significant leverage in generating such scandals.

Since the Kim Jong-il era, the state began to pour more investment into developing its cultural contents, transforming fields once considered lowly into a new path of success for women. The symbolic figure coming from the path is Ri Sol-ju, the source added.

But the gruesome execution of Jang Song-thaek raised awareness on how any official involved with women of interest may end up in irreparable pathos.

The source argued it was 90 percent certain that the cause of Jang’s execution was his past affair with Ri. The two formed a love partnership when he was considering her as a member of EunHaSoo (Milky Way) Orchestra, the state’s prestigious pleasure group for top officials commonly known as Gippeumjo.

Jang’s danger drew closer as other officials uncomfortable with his reigning authority as then the state’s second-in-command informed his nephew Kim Jong-un of their enemy’s past relationship with the first lady.

The source said Jang faced death as the leader and his aunt and Jang’s wife Kim Kyong-hui, enraged by the news, impulsively ordered the execution.