Kim Yong-chol
Posted on 08/01/2011 8:11:32 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
N.Korean Spy Chief 'Main Obstacle to Improving Relations'
Kim Yong-chol |
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il will have to sack the head of the regime's operations against South Korea to show it is "sincere" about improving cross-border relations, a government official here said Monday.
The official was referring to Kim Yong-chol, director of the North's Reconnaissance Bureau. Kim is believed to have masterminded last year's attacks against the Navy corvette Cheonan and Yeaonpyeong Island.
He is also believed to be behind the hacking of agricultural lender Nonghyup. The government believes that as long as he remains close to Kim Jong-il (no relation) and his heir apparent Jong-un, inter-Korean relations cannot improve. Kim Yong-chol was only recently elected to the Workers Party's Central Military Commission, whose vice chairman is now Kim junior.
According to a well-informed source, Kim Yong-chol is concerned about what would happen to his position if inter-Korean relations were to improve. South Korean intelligence believes it was Kim Yong-chol who caused a fracas at an inter-Korean military meeting in February, and ordered secret contacts between the two Koreas in May to be revealed on June 1.
The source said that Kim Yong-chol wields much influence over Kim Jong-un as he tutored the dynastic son in military lore while Kim junior was at Kim Il Sung Military University. Rumors have it that Kim Yong-chol boasted to fellow officials that he "brought up" Kim Jong-un.
Another government official said Kim Yong-chol's arrogance makes him unpopular within the regime. Senior military figures like Kim Yong-chun and O Kuk-ryol have openly criticized him for crippling the country to flatter Kim Jong-un. Even vice marshal Ri Yong-ho and Kim Jong-gak, the first deputy chief of the General Political Bureau, who belong to the same group of patrons of Kim Jong-un, are concerned about Kim Yong-chol's growing influence.
The official added that officials in North Korea's Foreign Ministry and the United Front Department are saying the North can only make progress if Kim Yong-chol steps down. They say he only cares about furthering his own interests, according to the official.
A government source said, "As long as Kim Yong-chol exerts influence over both Kim senior and junior, it is unlikely that recent talks on the North's nuclear issue and foreign ministerial talks will lead to an easing of inter-Korean relations." Some pundits even predict that Kim Yong-chol can push for further provocations if the two Koreas try to engage in dialogue in earnest.
One intelligence officer said, "The Reconnaissance Bureau could try to destroy infrastructure in South Korea through spies in the South, or carry out terrorist attacks on North Korean defectors campaigning against the dictatorial regime in the South. It is also possible that the North will carry out another massive cyber attack."
Another intelligence officer said that given Kim Yong-chol's "violent and reckless nature," if he sees himself on the verge of being purged, he might resort to extreme measures such as a coup d'état.
englishnews@chosun.com / Aug. 02, 2011 10:32 KST
If I hazard a guess, it would be very difficult to make Kim Jong-il (or Kim Jong-eun) get rid of Kim Yong-chol. Still S. Korea is trying to send signal to Chia Head about what has to be done to restart talks, IMHO. This would be a rare occasion on which SK gov is publicly demanding the purge of NK's top official.
By nature, totalitarian regime foster paranoia to maintain its hold on power. It is also its weakness, if overblown paranoia consumes leadership and they start to kill among themselves.
Lt. Gen. Kim Yong CholLieutenant General Kim Yong Chol is director of the NDC Reconnaissance General Bureau and a member of the party’s Central Military Committee (CMC) and a member of the Party Central Committee (CC KWP). Lieutenant General Kim is one of the DPRK intelligence community’s primary managers, and he has been involved in ROK intelligence collection and operations for nearly two decades.
Kim Yong Chol was born in 1945. He attended the Mangyongdae Revolutionary School and Kim Il Sung Military University. He began his career in a military police unit at the DMZ. From the 1960s to the 1980s he served in a number of DMZ-related positions and units. He was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1990. Kim also began using the title of MPAF Deputy Director of the MPAF Reconnaissance Bureau. In this position he was responsible for naval and land special forces’ units, as well intelligence training and education. He was elected a deputy to the 10th Supreme People’s Assembly in 1998
In the 1990s and 2000s Lieutenant General Kim participated in numerous inter-Korean/North-South meetings. He advocated for the DPRK’s restriction of inter-Korean border crossings in 2008 and conducted inspections near Kaesong in 2009.
In February 2009 Kim Yong Chol was appointed director of the NDC Reconnaissance General Bureau. The NDC RGB was a consolidation of the DPRK’s agencies and department responsible ROK intelligence collection and operations, as well as other intelligence training and operations. Kim has been implicated in the sinking of the ROK naval corvette Cheonan in 2010 and a failed assassination attempt on the late DPRK defector Hwang Jang Yop.
In his current position Lieutenant General Kim is also responsible for the NDC Policy Department. He reports to General O Kuk Ryol, NDC Vice Chairman with responsibility for overseas intelligence and special operations. Kim Yong Chol enjoys close ties to the Kim Family, including reputed ties to Kim Jong Un (hereditary successor and CMC Vice Chairman) and is a prominent 2nd/3rd generation elite. There are rumors that General O has reported having trouble managing Kim Yong Chol.
Kim Yong Chol was elected to full membership on the CC KWP and a member of the CMC during the 3rd Party Conference on 28 September 2010.
ACtually the main obstacle is North Korea, period
NK is run by evil people, all of them. Not just this guy.
They execute people caught reading fliers dropped by balloon and make the families watch and then send the families to the labor-death camps. Even the kids.
One defector said he saw an 11 year ‘skeletal’ old girl shot for stealing 5 grains of wheat. Pretty much any rule breaking was met with execution.
There are probably a half million people in these camps and turnover is rampant even though nobody ever gets out.
Thanks (as always!) for the good stuff.
What will the worldwise LIBS and SOCIALISTS and ELITES say when that place, North Korea, eventually comes crashing down and opens up, and the DPRK concentration camps are entered into by foreign journalists, troops, intelligence operatives, South Korean officials, world relief aid agencies, etc. and it is Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen of the 21st Century? For the most part, they will have been SILENT and propped up such a regime for over 60 years through international aid organizations. Criminal!!!!
They will either ignore it, deny its real socialism-communism or pretend to be shocked. Even the leftists at wikipedia who write propaganda articles about Cuba don’t flinch to make N Korean look bad.
Wiki Page called “Economy of North Korea” is brutal, the same thing about Cuba reads like propaganda from Castro himself.
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NK Spy case reaches National Assembly
Five people including an IT company president and an aide to the former National Assembly speaker have been arrested on charges of creating an underground political party at Pyongyang’s directive as part of a massive espionage probe involving dozens of politicians, scholars and labor activists, the prosecution said Friday.
According to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, a 48-year-old IT businessman, only identified as Kim, was arrested on charges of organizing an antistate group and carrying out espionage operations.
Among the four others arrested include a former aide to former National Assembly Speaker Lim Chae-jung of the Democratic Party. The prosecutors said Lim is not involved.
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Hey Tiger I kinda waiting for when Chia Pet dies everybody go Kill Bill on Young Chia Chub very soon
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