As of 2014, many changes are being operated in the North Korean leadership through changes within the key political organisations of the country (personnal changes in the Secretariat of the Central Committee and in the National Defense Commission have been done in April 2014). The North Korean leadership is composed of three generation of leaders who are connected to the Kim Jong-un’s family. Those who are biologically belonging to the Kim family are the most important. Since the creation of North Korea, we can remark that Kim’s family members were always safe (they were very rarely purged) and maintained their positions in the North Korean system (for example the former wife of Kim Il-sung was at the head of the Democratif Federation of Women of North Korea between 1971 and 1993, the younger brother of Kim Il-sung, Kim Yong-ju is a vice secretariat of the Supreme People Assembly since 1993). The family of Kims represents a kind of inner team which is managing an external team of people who must be loyal toward the Kim’s family and who must obey to the policy settled by the Kim family. I would like to present today these two teams of North Korean leaders.
The inner team
As of April 2014, the inner team (the de facto Kim Jong-un family) securized key posts in the North Korean political structures. These people are biologically associated to the Kim family. They are controlling the following key political structures:
– The National Defense Commission (which was enhanced as a top organ by the constitution of 1998)
– The Workers’ Party of Korea: the North Korean communist Party which is managing structures.
– The North Korean ministerial Cabinet: an organisation affiliated to the North Korean communist Party which (through its ministries) is managing a large number of North Korean companies.
– The Army: the KPA army is managed by the ministry of the KPA (the KPA ministry is Jang Jong-nam: a puppet of Kim Jong-un)
The inner team
| Identity | Main responsabilities |
| Kim Jong-un | North Korean leader, first secretary of the CC WPK |
| Kim Jong-chun | KPA vicemarshal |
| Kim Kyung-hee | PB WPK member |
| Kim Sol-song | North Korean businesswoman |
| Kim Song-nam | Advisor to Kim Jong-un on chinese affairs |
| Kim Yang-gon | Unification Frond President |
| Kim Yo-jong | Director of the office 99 |
| Kim Yong-il | Deputy minister of Foreign Affairs |
| Kim Yong-nam | SPA secretary |
| Ri Yong-mu | NDC member |
The external team
The external team is a gremium of people who are connected to the Kim’s family. They are loyal toward the leader however they are not connected by blood to Kim Jong-un. These advisors are loyal toward Kim Jong-un and accept the rotation of their responsabilities (they have a political and economical carrier in different structures of the DPRK political system, they may have been regional WPK secretaries, former ministers and managers of companies). These people (and their families) belong to the top leadership of the DPRK.
The external team (selected people)
| Identity | Main responsabilities |
| Cha Chol-ma | Director in the Mansudae company |
| Choe Ryong-hae | PB KPA director |
| Hwang Pyong-so | Deputy director of the Organisation and Leadership Department of the CC WPK |
| Jang Jong-nam | KPA Minister |
| Jon Sung-hun | Former prime minister of the DPRK |
| Kim Kyong-ok | Deputy director of the Organisation and Leadership Department of the CC WPK |
| O Kuk-ryol | KPA vicemarshal |
| O Su-yong | Member of the Secretariat of the CC WPK |
| Ri Jae-il | Deputy director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the CC WPK |
Abbreviations used
CC Central Committee
DPRK Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
KPA Korean People’s Army
WPK Workers’ Party of Korea
NDC National Defense Commission
PB Political Bureau
SPA Supreme People’s Assembly
