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| North Korean "Supreme Leader", Kim Jong-un |
By Steven Denney
The arguments over who really has power suggest an important new era in North Korean studies.
Who calls the shots in North Korea? While no one man can do everything, conventional analysis holds that the Supreme Leader, currently Kim Jong-un, is large and in charge. However, the orthodox position has been giving way to a new perspective. Recently, the argument has been put forward that the Supreme Leader is just a puppet, beholden to the power of a group of more powerful men. While questions concerning who is really in charge were seldom asked during Kim Jong-il’s reign, the discourse has changed since Kim Jong-un came to power in late 2011.
The question “Who governs?” is an important one, but overemphasizing this particular question runs the risk of overshadowing other important developments in the field of North Korean studies. Before listing a couple of the more important developments, let’s address the question burning a hole in everyone’s imagination, if only so that we may move slightly beyond it. In North Korea, who governs?
As chief editor of the news periodical New Focus, Jang Jin-sung has been promoting the need for analysts and experts to reappraise the structure of the North Korean regime. In his assessment, Kim Jong-un is merely a puppet, whereas real power resides in the Organization and Guidance Department (OGD). The arrival of Hwang Pyong-so in Seoul for the closing ceremony of the Asian Games, flanked by the type of security detail reserved only for the country’s most powerful (viz. the “Supreme Leader”), is one more piece of evidence (among others) that Jang has used to support his thesis.
Read the full story at The Diplomat