Ri Son Gwon Comes Out for Ch’ongryo’n Photo-op

Kim Jong Un (KJU; Kim Cho’ng-u’n) came out to the Workers’ Party of Korea [WPK] Central Committee Office Building complex on 2 January for three commemorative photo-ops, the last of which was with student performers attending Ch’ongryo’n (Chosen Soren) schools in Japan.  According to KCNA, “he took in his arms the the valuable sons and daughters of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Ch’ongryo’n) who are growing up stoutly and beautifully by carrying forward the souls of their fathers and mothers who remain unchangeable on the road of patriotism, cherishing warm for the socialist homeland.”

Ri Son Gwon (Ri So’n-kwon) was the responsible official observed briefing KJU.  Ri was the last director of the WPK United Front Department [UFD] before UFD was downgraded to Central Committee Bureau #10 (a bureau being one tier below a Central Committee Department).  UFD was the umbrella organization tasked with intelligence and diplomatic relations on South Korea.

When the process for downgrading UFD began during late 2023/early 2024 there was reasonable conjecture that its diplomatic policymaking and cultural exchange functions–such as Pyongyang’s relations with the ethnic Korean population in Japan (via Ch’ongryo’n)–would migrate to the Foreign Ministry.  With Ri Son Gwon attending the 2 January photo shoot, we have a somewhat clearer idea that Bureau #10 at least absorbed managing Pyongyang’s relationship with Ch’ongryo’n.  The bureau’s role probably extends to other Korean diaspora organizations sympathetic to the DPRK, as well as some of the satellite organizations focused on external affairs such as Asia Pacific Peace Committee.

Aware of Bureau #10’s ties to Ch’ongryo’n and presumably other diaspora organizations, we are back to puzzling over where other UFD missions and institutional pieces migrated in the regime.  Some of UFD’s more interesting and clandestine activities, along with the relevant personnel, ended up at the State Security Department and the KPA Reconnaissance General Bureau.  Has Bureau #10 also taken on UFD’s former coordinating function with the DPRK’s workers’ and social organizations?  Has it assumed UFD research institutes and analytic staff?  Does North Korea have a new or repurposed intelligence agency?  A year after UFD was formally downgraded, perhaps a few more implicit clues will pop up along the way.