Updated June 4 at 14:00 KST to include evidence from a May 28 Korean Central Television (KCTV) broadcast on the ministry’s name change.

North Korea has likely changed the name of its Ministry of People’s Security back to “Ministry of Social Security,” a state media report showed this week, in what represents a notable rebranding of one of the DPRK’s top policing bodies.

The news follows the reported replacement of the ministry’s top official, with South Korea’s Ministry of Unification (MOU) saying in February that Choe Pu Il had been replaced by Kim Jong Ho.

The externally-focused state media outlet