North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presides over the first enlarged meeting of the ninth Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea on July 9, the Korean Central News Agency reported on July 10.YONHAP
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered the strengthening of the General Reconnaissance and Intelligence Bureau,signaling Pyongyang's push to expand its intelligence and warfare capabilitiesin a meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party on Thursday.
Kim reaffirmed the existing policy of expanding and strengthening nuclear forces both quantitatively and qualitatively, with analysts saying the move appears to be aimed at upgrading asymmetric capabilities to monitor and threaten the advanced forces of South Korea, the United States and Japan.
The Rodong Sinmun reported Friday that the first enlarged meeting of the ninth Central Military Commission, presided over by Kim, was held the previous day. According to the newspaper, the meeting proposed tasks and ways for "expanding in a many-sided way the functions and missions of the General Reconnaissance and Intelligence Bureau, which plays a pivotal role in controlling the potential enemies’ threats and gathering key information, and enhancing its capability of military reconnaissance and intelligence activities in a radical way.”
The General Reconnaissance and Intelligence Bureau is an expanded and reorganized version of the General Reconnaissance Bureau under the Korean People's Army General Staff, first confirmed through North Korean state media reports in September of last year. Pyongyang's emphasis on strengthening the organization's functions is interpreted to be a signal of its intent to upgrade asymmetric forces by building up information warfare and cyber warfare capabilities.
"It is highly likely an 'upgrade' order aimed at institutionally absorbing technologies — such as satellite navigation, electronic warfare and data-link systems — obtained in return for the troop dispatch to Russia," Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said, adding that "the addition of 'intelligence' to the organization's name may also reflect a shift from an operations-centered focus on South Korea toward a comprehensive intelligence agency equipped with collection, analysis and dissemination capabilities."
According to the newspaper, the meeting also discussed matters including updating the combat system's technological infrastructure, quantitatively expanding and strengthening nuclear forces and standardizing, specializing and modernizing military bases across all branches of the armed forces. This is interpreted as a measure linked to the current trend of strengthening naval power, including introducing the new Choe Hyon and Kang Kon5,000-ton destroyers and the construction of a 10,000-ton destroyer and a nuclear-powered submarine.
Members of the Workers' Party's Central Military Commission attended the meeting of the ninth Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party, the Korean Central News Agency reported on July 10.NEWS1
Kim personally signed seven orders on the "important military measures" deliberated and decided at the meeting that day, according to Rodong Sinmun reports. He also discussed the “organizational matter of dismissing, transferring and newly appointing leading officers for key posts of the People’s Army.”
Although the North did not disclose details, the general view among experts is that personnel and organizational reshuffles related to strengthening the General Reconnaissance and Intelligence Bureau or naval power were likely included.
“Only when we build the strong army and control all and contain threats with its powerful strength, is it possible to achieve the true peace,” Kim reportedly said, adding, "It is our Party’s steadfast policy on building a powerful army to turn the People’s Army into a strong army united as one in mind sharing the ideas and intention with the Party Central Committee and to develop it into invincible armed forces by steadily strengthening its politico-ideological mightiness and spiritual-moral superiority and military technical superiority.”
North Korea also formalized a planregarding activity and specific tasks for the People's Army to “accomplish the great historic cause for completely remodeling the coal-mining areas across the country." This means the military will be deployed on a large scale for the "coal mining region modernization" project decided at last month's Workers' Party plenary meeting.
"By defining the military not simply as a means of maintaining military strength but as the 'core driver of national development,' this is a calculated attempt to break through sluggish economic performance using the military's organizational power and coercive capacity," Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, explained.
Abolishing reporting rules on 'Chongryon' contact
While North Korea aims to strengthen its asymmetric capacities, the South Koreangovernment plans to pursue a legal revision to eliminate the reporting obligation imposed on South Korean citizens when they contact figures affiliated with the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, or "Chongryon."
Article 30 of the current Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act stipulates that "any member of an organization prescribed by Presidential Decree that has its headquarters or principal office in the area north of the Military Demarcation Line shall be deemed a resident of North Korea." Chongryon members are treated as North Korean residents, and South Koreans must report to the Ministry of Unification before or after meeting with Chongryon figures or carrying out cooperative projects. Failure to do so can result in an administrative fine or penalty.
The Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's ruling Workers' Party newspaper, reported on May 26 that the 26th General Congress of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan was held at the Korean Hall in Tokyo on May 23 and 24.NEWS1
Under the previous Yoon Suk Yeol administration, the Ministry of Unification imposed an administrative fine on Mongdang Yeonpil — a private organization supporting people involved with North Korean-affiliated schools in Japan — after it carried out a support project for such schools, on the grounds that it had made "unauthorized contact" without reporting.
The Ministry of Unification is now seeking to abolish the provision because it believes the system is outdated, with Chongryon's size, membership and character having changed since the law was enacted in 1990. A significant number of Chongryon members now hold South Korean nationality or have legal status equivalent to that of South Korean citizens, and the ministry explains that it is anachronistic to uniformly regard them as "North Korean residents" and require South Koreans who contact them to submit reports.
However, some have raised concerns that abolishing the reporting obligation would be inappropriate, since Chongryon has been confirmed as an "antistate organization" under Supreme Court precedent.
"It is only the contact-reporting obligation under the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act that would disappear,"said a Unification Ministry official. "This is separate from determinations of violations under the National Security Act."
BY CHUNG YEONG-GYO [kim.hayoon1@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
