The continued absence of one of North Korea’s top officials, General Hwang Pyong So, from leader Kim Jong Un's side continues to fuel speculation that he has fallen from favor and may have been executed.
Director of the hugely influential General Political Bureau of the North Korean military—the body that is tasked with ensuring ideological commitment within the ranks of the army—Hwang has reportedly been expelled from the Workers’ Party, where he previously served in a senior position in the politburo.
An unidentified South Korean source told South Korea publication Korea JoongAng Daily that Hwang was purged from the party for taking bribes. The source did not specify when the expulsion took place.
The reports about Hwang first emerged after the South Korean intelligence agency briefed Seoul lawmakers on the situation in North Korea in November, a week after a North Korean soldier staged a daring defection across the demilitarized border area.
Seoul's spy agency said Hwang and his deputy were punished for their “impure” attitude, but a lawmaker who attended the briefing told local media he could not add details about the punishment because it was classified information.
Hwang’s position within the regime effectively made him second only to Kim, the result of a power struggle with the ruling party secretary, Choe Ryong Hae, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported in 2015.
Choe, whose son is reportedly married to Kim’s younger sister, used to lead the military bureau and became the most senior North Korean regime official to visit South Korea when he led Pyongyang’s delegation to the Asian Games in October in 2014. Choe was replaced by Hwang later that year and sent to work on a farm in 2015 as a punishment for mishandling a power station construction project. He only reappeared in public a month later.
Rumors of a new power struggle between Choe and Hwang were circulating in March and, according to Seoul, Choe may have got the upper hand, leading the probe that reportedly led to Hwang’s downfall. Hwang was last seen in public two months ago, South Korean media reported.
It is not the first time that Hwang has disappeared from the public eye: He vanished for three weeks in December 2015, but South Korean later suggested that he had traveled to China to have back surgery, as Yonhap reported.
Although North Korea is fiercely secretive and its politics opaque, state-controlled media usually lists the names of officials attending public events, allowing analysts to speculate on who is in and out of favor. Hwang’s name did not appear on reports of Kim climbing the top of Mount Paektu—North Korea’s sacred mountain—over the weekend, while Choe's did.
Director of the hugely influential General Political Bureau of the North Korean military—the body that is tasked with ensuring ideological commitment within the ranks of the army—Hwang has reportedly been expelled from the Workers’ Party, where he previously served in a senior position in the politburo.
An unidentified South Korean source told South Korea publication Korea JoongAng Daily that Hwang was purged from the party for taking bribes. The source did not specify when the expulsion took place.
The reports about Hwang first emerged after the South Korean intelligence agency briefed Seoul lawmakers on the situation in North Korea in November, a week after a North Korean soldier staged a daring defection across the demilitarized border area.
Seoul's spy agency said Hwang and his deputy were punished for their “impure” attitude, but a lawmaker who attended the briefing told local media he could not add details about the punishment because it was classified information.
Hwang’s position within the regime effectively made him second only to Kim, the result of a power struggle with the ruling party secretary, Choe Ryong Hae, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported in 2015.
Choe, whose son is reportedly married to Kim’s younger sister, used to lead the military bureau and became the most senior North Korean regime official to visit South Korea when he led Pyongyang’s delegation to the Asian Games in October in 2014. Choe was replaced by Hwang later that year and sent to work on a farm in 2015 as a punishment for mishandling a power station construction project. He only reappeared in public a month later.
Rumors of a new power struggle between Choe and Hwang were circulating in March and, according to Seoul, Choe may have got the upper hand, leading the probe that reportedly led to Hwang’s downfall. Hwang was last seen in public two months ago, South Korean media reported.
It is not the first time that Hwang has disappeared from the public eye: He vanished for three weeks in December 2015, but South Korean later suggested that he had traveled to China to have back surgery, as Yonhap reported.
Although North Korea is fiercely secretive and its politics opaque, state-controlled media usually lists the names of officials attending public events, allowing analysts to speculate on who is in and out of favor. Hwang’s name did not appear on reports of Kim climbing the top of Mount Paektu—North Korea’s sacred mountain—over the weekend, while Choe's did.
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