Third Floor
Personnel Shuffles in the first half of 2010
With the deaths of Ri Je Gang and KPA Artillery Commander Col. Gen. Ri Jong Bu, eleven (11) members of North Korea’s leadership have either passed away, been replaced or disappeared from public life in […]
KJI Granddaughter's Friend From the South
Kim Jong Nam does not restrict his children’s South Korean cultural interactions to the occasional Rain concert. Mr. Kim (whose business commitments find him dividing his time between Macau, Beijing and Pyongyang) is said to […]
KJI Concerned About "Unrest" in Early February Over Money Crunch (revised 18 April)
Choson Ilbo, citing a story from Open Radio for NK, reports that Kim Jong Il was worried about public discontent at a meeting in early February. At a meeting on Feb. 2 in which he […]
New Study on Office #39
The US Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute’s Letort Papers series (SSI and the Letort series produce fascinating and excellent scholarship) has published a comprehensive study on the activities of Office #39. In Criminal Sovereignty: […]
Kim Kyong Hui Biography
A bit later than announced, but this is one version of biographical and career data I prepared on Kim Jong Il’s younger sister, Kim Kyong Hui. Ms. Kim is a charter member of KJI’s inner […]
Jang's Men at United Front Department?
Ri Kwang-gun, the DPRK’s former Minister of Foreign Trade, has become a deputy director in support of Kim Yang-gon at the KWP United Front Department which coordinates the country’s relations with the ROK. Yonhap reports […]
ICG Study on NK Under UN Sanctions
The International Crisis Group has published a study as an Update Briefing under the title North Korea Under Tightening Sanctions. The study suggests that the recent UN sanctions, currency redenomination and the unfolding succession campaign […]
