The two “newcomers” who boarded the Kim Jong Un train
/Cao Ran
On the afternoon of February 23, 2019, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un left Pyongyang for the second time by train to Vietnam's Hawai meeting. According to the KCNA report, the high-level North Korean officials who accompanied him on the visit included Kim Young-cheol, Lee Soo-yong, Kim Pyeong-hae, and Oh Soo-yong, vice-chairmen of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party, Lee Yong-ho, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nu Kwang-tee, First Deputy Minister of the Party Central Committee, and Kim With Zheng and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Choi Sun Hee. Except for the two new faces, the DPRK team for the second "Gold Conference" basically maintained the lineup of the first "Gold Conference". It is no accident that the two "newcomers", Jin Pinghai and Wu Xiurong, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Labor Party and vice chairman of the Party Central Committee, were able to board Kim Jong-un's train this time.
Jin Pinghai: The mysterious Labor Party personnel director
Jin Pinghai rarely leaves North Korea because of his identity. Since being promoted to Pyongyang from the post of the People’s Committee of North Pyongan Province in 2002, Kim Pyeonghae has been in charge of the personnel affairs of the North Korean government for a long time and became an alternate member of the Politburo in 2010.
Kim Jong-un came to power at the end of 2011, and Kim Ping-hae was elected as a member of the Politburo in May 2016, which shows that the head of the organization department of the Labor Party has gained the trust of the new leader. His latest public title is the Vice Chairman of the Central Election Committee of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly reported by the Korean Central News Agency on January 30, 2019. In a report on February 17 this year by the Labor News about "Leading comrades from the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea visit the Sun Palace of Mount Gumxiu", Kim Pyong-hae was second only to Li Su-yong in the ranking of the Vice-Chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party, and higher than Wu Xiurong and Kim. Yingzhe et al.
In recent years, except for large-scale events attended by the top leaders of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Kim Pinghai has not made many public appearances. One exception appeared in March 2018. Jin Pinghai became the highest-level official who appeared at the "National Three Revolutionary Group Technology Innovation Exhibition", and the content of the exhibition was the innovations made by North Korean power, metallurgy, chemical, coal, machinery and other departments. .
Jin Pinghai rarely misses major events attended by Kim Jong-un. On June 10 last year, he held Kim Jong-un's hand excitedly at Pyongyang Airport and watched the leader board a flight to Singapore.
This time, Kim Jong-un and his party set off on February 23 and did not end their talks until the 28th. According to Yonhap News Agency, the North Korean delegation will stay in Hanoi to visit Vietnamese factories and enterprises. Considering that this visit was much longer than the last "Golden Special Meeting" which lasted less than three days, it is reasonable for Jin Pinghai to be accompanying him.
Wu Xiurong: The top person in charge of the economic and industrial front debuted for the first time
According to Reuters, at about 9:30 pm on February 23, the Kim Jong Un train passed the border between China and North Korea in Dandong. This is Wu Xiurong's second visit to China after eight years. In April 2010, he accompanied Kim Yong Nam, head of state of North Korea, to Shanghai to visit the World Expo. He had just been promoted from Minister of Electronics Industry to Deputy Prime Minister of the Cabinet. The following year, he was promoted to secretary of the Central Committee of the Labor Party and accompanied Kim Jong Il, the supreme leader of North Korea, to visit China and Russia. It's not surprising that Wu Xiurong was promoted quickly. Michael Madden, an American expert on North Korea who has long observed the personnel situation of the Labor Party, called him a "professional technical officer." Public information shows that Wu Soo-yong has served in the industrial sector for a long time. In 2007, he was awarded the Kim Il Sung Medal, which is the highest honor in North Korea, which fully reflects the recognition of his work by the leadership. The experience of being in charge of joint venture affairs also made him an important role in the economic and trade exchanges between North Korea and overseas in the late Kim Jong Il administration.
After Kim Jong-un took power, North Korea proposed the parallel policy of nuclear weapons development and economic construction, and announced a "new phase policy" in April 2018, shifting the focus of all work to economic construction. In this context, Wu Xiurong was reused by the new leader and was promoted to the chairman of the Central Budget Committee of the Labor Party in 2014 and became an alternate member of the Politburo in 2015.
Madden once pointed out that Wu Xiurong's promotion was to replace Kim Jong-un, Kim Kyung-hee, who had led the North Korean industrial front. What is certain is that Wu Xiurong has indeed become the young leader’sRight-hand man. According to statistics from the Ministry of Unification of South Korea, in 2016 alone, he publicly accompanied Kim Jong-un on 25 occasions, ranking fourth among the top leaders of the Labor Party in frequency. In February 2018, when Mrs. Kim Jong Un and his wife visited the newly built Pyongyang trolleybus plant and experienced the trial operation of the tram, the high-level officials of the Labor Party who accompanied them were Wu Xiurong and the deputy minister of the Party Central Committee Zhao Yongyuan.
In 2017, Yonhap News Agency disclosed that the Workers’ Party of Korea had formed an unprecedented Ministry of Economy. The Ministry was reorganized from the former Ministry of Finance of the Labor Party. In addition to the original budgeting and other matters, it is also responsible for overseeing railways, construction, coal and other industrial departments that were originally in charge of the cabinet. And it is Wu Xiurong who has just taken up the post of deputy chairman of the Central Committee of the Labor Party who is also the Minister of Economic Affairs.
Since 2018, in addition to frequently accompanying the top leaders on inspections, the North Korean media also publicly reported Wu Xiurong's presiding over the mountain forest restoration and environmental protection work conference, participating in the railway opening ceremony, congratulating the completion of large-scale nurseries, and inspecting large steel companies. He is also the highest-level official attending the 2018 North Korea’s "National Economy Departments, Types of Work Skills Competition" and the "National Forest Science and Technology Exhibition".
Since 2018, mountain-forest cooperation and cross-border railways have become hot topics in economic cooperation between North Korea and South Korea. However, as the highest person in charge of related industries in North Korea, Wu Xiurong has never appeared on the list of leaders' meetings between North Korea and South Korea and high-level delegation visits. At the same time, the North Korean media has repeatedly issued documents accusing South Korea of being afraid of the pressure of the UN and US sanctions in economic cooperation, resulting in no substantial progress in cross-border railway projects.
According to South Korea’s “Joongang Ilbo” report, in the face of the Trump administration’s attitude that “sanctions will not stop before denuclearization is achieved”, the North Korean government has asked the US to “resolve sanctions” at the working meeting before the DPRK-US leaders’ meeting. problem". In response, Kim Yiqian, a spokesperson for the Blue House of the Presidential Palace of South Korea, disclosed on February 20 that Trump had “taken economic cooperation between South Korea and North Korea as a corresponding measure against North Korea’s nuclear abandonment” during the phone call with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on the 19th. The proposal is positive.
At this time, Wu Xiurong finally appeared. Just four days before his departure with Kim Jong-un, U.S. State Department Deputy Spokesperson Palladino once again pointed out at a press conference that sanctions will continue until North Korea achieves final, complete, and verifiable denuclearization. But he also added that the issue still depends on the progress of relevant consultations.
