Just a week after NK News reported on the public disappearance of Kim Jong Un's wife, the South Korean press is reporting on the seeming departure of Ri Myong Su (pictured left), North Korea's Minister of Public Security and a member of the Politburo. As a powerful ally of the late Kim Jong Il, the disappearance of Ri starting to raise eyebrows in South Korea as possible evidence of another purge.
Yonhap reports (link in Korean) that Ri hasn’t been seen since the 6th meeting of the 12th Supreme People’s Assembly, though he was not publicly identified, and has not been mentioned in an article since appearing with Kim Jong Un on August 25th. Meanwhile, a subordinate, Ri Pyong Sam, the Director of the Korean People’s Internal Security Forces Political Bureau, as well as an alternate member of the Politburo, accompanied Kim on October 14th, and was also present when the People’s Security University was renamed Kim Jong Il People’s Security University on October 6th.
Just a week after NK News reported on the public disappearance of Kim Jong Un's wife, the South Korean press is reporting on the seeming departure of Ri Myong Su (pictured left), North Korea's Minister of Public Security and a member of the Politburo. As a powerful ally of the late Kim Jong Il, the disappearance of Ri starting to raise eyebrows in South Korea as possible evidence of another purge.
Yonhap reports (link in Korean) that Ri hasn’t been seen since the 6th meeting of the 12th Supreme People’s Assembly, though he was not publicly identified, and has not been mentioned in an article since appearing with Kim Jong Un on August 25th. Meanwhile, a subordinate, Ri Pyong Sam, the Director of the Korean People’s Internal Security Forces Political Bureau, as well as an alternate member of the Politburo, accompanied Kim on October 14th, and was also present when the People’s Security University was renamed Kim Jong Il People’s Security University on October 6th.
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Luke Herman is a regular writer at NK News and the Peterson Institute’s “Witness to Transformation” blog. He is a graduate of the UCSD School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS). Follow him on Twitter or email him your comments.