Jong Kyong-thaek

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix = Colonel General

| name = Jong Kyong-thaek

| image =

| office2 = Minister of State Security

| 1blankname2 = {{nowrap|Supreme Leader}}

| 1namedata2 = Kim Jong-un

| term_start2 = 2018

|term_end2 = 2022

| predecessor2 = Kim Won-hong

| successor2 = Ri Chang-dae

| office1 = Director of the KPA General Political Bureau

| term_start1 = 2022

| predecessor1 = Kwon Yong-jin

| allegiance = {{flag|North Korea}}

|branch = {{armed forces|North Korea}}

| rank = Colonel general

| birth_date = between 1 January 1961 and 31 December 1963

| birth_place = Chagang Province, North Korea

| party = Workers' Party of Korea

}}

{{Infobox Korean name

| hangul = 정경택

| hanja =鄭京澤

| rr = Jeong Gyeongtaek

| mr = Chŏng Kyŏngt'aek

| koreanipa =

| context = north

}}

Jong Kyong-thaek ({{Korean|hangul=정경택|context=north}}, born between 1 January 1961 and 31 December 1963{{Cite web |title=North Korea Designations |publisher=United States Department of the Treasury |date=10 December 2018 |access-date=23 March 2019 |url= https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/recent-actions/20181210 }}) is a North Korean politician. He served as the Minister of State Security from 2018 to 2022, a member of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), an alternate member of the Politburo of the WPK, and a member of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea.

Family background

Jong's father was Jong Jun-thaek,{{Cite web|url=http://www.newsis.com/view/?id=NISX20171125_0000158582|script-title=ko:'북한 비밀경찰 수장 국가보위상에 정경택 취임' 아사히|website=Newsis|date=25 November 2017 |language=ko}} an intellectual at the core of North Korea's early industrialization efforts under Kim Il-sung and who served as the DPRK's Deputy Premier from 1956 to 1961.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/01/13/archives/chong-jun-taek-dies-at-61-north-korea-vice-premier.html|title=Chong Jun Taek Dies at 61; North Korea Vice Premier|date=13 January 1973|work=The New York Times}} Chong headed national industrial planning between 1945 and 1950. He worked closely with Kim Il-sung, traveling with the leader to meet Stalin in Moscow in March 1949,{{Cite web|url=http://www.cssm.org.cn/view.php?id=7489|script-title=zh:朴明林：韩国战争的决定过程：苏中朝的作用 - 中国战略与管理研究会|website=www.cssm.org.cn|access-date=19 September 2019|language=zh}} and joining Kim's new Military Affairs Commission with the outbreak of the Korean War.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/cia-rdp80-00809a000600330105-8|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170123040435/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/cia-rdp80-00809a000600330105-8|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 January 2017|title=Chinese May Aid North Koreans|website=Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room|publisher=CIA|access-date=19 September 2019}} After the war he headed North Korea's chemical industry. Jong Jun-thaek had an economics university named after him (Chong Jun Taek Kyongje Daehak) in Kangwon in 1960.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uhmxCwAAQBAJ&q=%22Chong+Jun+Taek%22&pg=PA334|editor-last=Taylor|editor-first=Ann C. M.|title=World List of Universities / Liste Mondiale des Universites|edition=19th|date=2016|publisher=International Association of Universities, Springer|isbn=978-1-349-12037-6|doi=10.1007/978-1-349-12037-6|language=en}} He travelled to Syria and Sudan in 1972 on diplomatic missions, meeting President Assad.{{Cite book|title=Korea versus Korea: A Case of Contested Legitimacy|last=Gills|first=Barry|publisher=Routledge|year=2005|pages=132}} Chong died in 1973 when his son was 10 or 12 years old.

Career

Jong's appears to have made his career with the Korean People's Army. He first surfaced as a public figure in November 2015, when he was listed on the funeral committee for Ri Ul-sol, the Korean People's Army General and elder Manchurian guerrilla veteran.{{Cite web|url=http://www.tongilnews.com/news/quickViewArticleView.html?idxno=114371|script-title=ko:통일뉴스|website=Tongil News|access-date=19 September 2019|language=ko}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} In early 2017, Kim Won-hong was removed from the role of Minister of State Security (also known as the Director of the State Security Department, SSD).{{Cite web|url=https://www.38north.org/2017/02/mmadden021417/|title=Has Kim Won Hong Sung his Swan Song?|date=14 February 2017|website=38 North|language=en|access-date=19 September 2019}} Won-hong had apparently been punished following a party inspection.{{Cite web |title=N. Korean official Choe Ryong-hae apparently leading ruling party's key department |author=Kim Soo-yeon |agency=Yonhap |date=11 January 2018 |access-date=23 March 2019 |url= https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20180111006200315 }} The appointment of Jong Kyong-thaek as Minister came at the same time as Choe Ryong-hae was appointed director of the Organization and Guidance Department (OGD) which works closely with the SSD. According to North Korea Leadership Watch, "Choe's appointment along with the appointment of Jong Kyong Thaek at State Security are no accident... Choe and Jong's new positions represent a kind of house cleaning to avoid some of the problems that have affected State Security during the last 18 months. Choe and Jong's appointments are also intended to usher in 3rd generation DPRK cadres in the internal security services."{{Cite web |title=Choe Ryong Hae to OGD? [revised 13 JAN 2018] {{!}} |work=North Korea Leadership Watch |date=13 January 2018 |access-date=23 March 2019 |url= http://www.nkleadershipwatch.org/2018/01/11/choe-ryong-hae-to-ogd/ }}

In this capacity, Jong directs both censorship and counter-intelligence.{{Cite web |title=Treasury Sanctions North Korean Officials and Entities in Response to the Regime's Serious Human Rights Abuses and Censorship |publisher=United States Department of the Treasury |date=10 December 2018 |access-date=23 March 2019 |url= https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm568 }}{{Cite web |title=US imposes sanctions on three top North Korean officials |agency=AFP |work=The Guardian |date=10 December 2018 |access-date=23 March 2019 |url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/10/north-korea-sanctions-trump-top-officials-assets }} For instance, during Kim Jong-un's trip to the 2018 North Korea–United States Singapore Summit, Jong "supervised the collection, consolidation and analysis of myriad intelligence reports from around the DPRK derived from eavesdropping and SSD's pyramid-like human intelligence networks. Col. Gen. Jong probably supervised the mobilization of additional electronic capabilities and personnel to monitor the DPRK's defense industry."

Since October 2017, Jong has been a member of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and an alternate member of the Politburo of the WPK.{{Cite web |script-title=ko:정경택(남성) |publisher=Ministry of Unification |work=North Korea Information Portal |access-date=23 March 2019 |url= http://nkinfo.unikorea.go.kr/nkp/theme/viewPeople.do?nkpmno=49815 |language=ko }} At the sixth session of the 13th Supreme People's Assembly on 11 April 2018, Jong also took Kim Won-hong's seat in the State Affairs Commission of North Korea.{{Cite web |title=6th Session of the 13th SPA Held |work=North Korea Leadership Watch |date=14 April 2018 |access-date=23 March 2019 |url= http://www.nkleadershipwatch.org/2018/04/14/6th-session-of-the-13th-spa-held/ }} Jong's military rank is colonel general.{{Cite web |title=OGD (The Road Song) and The Ghost of Sejanus |work=North Korea Leadership Watch |date=24 June 2018 |access-date=23 March 2019 |url= http://www.nkleadershipwatch.org/2018/06/24/ogd-the-road-song-and-the-ghost-of-sejanus/ }} He resides in Pyongyang.

On 10 December 2018, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on Jong and two other top North Korean leaders, citing abuses and Jong's role in the government of North Korea and the WPK, a step criticized by the Rodong Sinmun.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/11/us-sanctions-top-north-korean-officials-human-rights-abuses/|title=US sanctions top North Korean officials over human rights abuses|last=Ryall|first=Julian|date=11 December 2018|work=The Telegraph|access-date=19 September 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}

On 22 March 2021, the Council of the European Union imposed a set of restrictive measures against Kyong-thaek giving the reason for listing: "As Head of the Ministry of State Security, Jong Kyong-thaek is responsible for serious human rights violations in the DPRK, in particular torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings, enforced disappearance of persons, and arbitrary arrests or detentions, as well as widespread forced labour and sexual violence against women."{{Cite web|title=EUR-Lex - 02020R1998-20210322 - EN - EUR-Lex|url=https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02020R1998-20210322|access-date=2021-12-19|website=eur-lex.europa.eu|language=en}}

Jong was part of a high-level welcoming delegation for China's paramount leader Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan, greeting them both at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun square and attending an artistic performance with them in Pyongyang on 20 June 2019.{{Cite tweet|number=1174616848849149952|title=Xi Jinping greets Jong Kyong-thaek (정경택/郑京泽), DPRK Minister of State Security, in Pyongyang on 20 June 2019. Jong is also a Politburo member who (along w/ Choe Ryong-hae) had been targetted by US Treasury Department #sanctions 6 months prior. [...]|last=Cathcart|first=Adam|date=19 September 2019|user=adamcathcart|language=en|access-date=19 September 2019}}

Jong was promoted to the rank of general on 23 May 2020.{{Cite web |title=Order of Chairman of WPK Central Military Commission Issued |agency=KCNA |date=24 May 2020 |access-date=25 May 2020 |url= https://kcnawatch.org/newstream/1590270443-266436744/order-of-chairman-of-wpk-central-military-commission-issued/ }} On 30 September 2020, he was reported to be demoted to Colonel General.{{Cite web |title=N. Korea's spy chief demoted to colonel general |agency=Yonhap |date=30 September 2020 |access-date=19 January 2022 |url= https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20200930004900320 }} Now he is director of the KPA General Political Bureau.

Awards and honors

The official portrait of Jong shows him wearing the ribbons of all decorations awarded to him.{{Cite web |title=조선민주주의인민공화국 최고인민회의 제13기 제6차회의에서 보선된 국무위원회 위원들 |url=http://uriminzokkiri.com/index.php?ptype=cphoto&mtype=view&no=5967 |access-date=2023-01-10 |website=Uriminzokkiri |archive-date=10 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230110200451/http://uriminzokkiri.com/index.php?ptype=cphoto&mtype=view&no=5967 |url-status=dead }}

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