It was found on the 13th that Ri Son-gwon, who served as the head of the North Korean Workers' Party United Front Department, still holds the title of "party Central Committee Director General." When North Korea changed the name of the United Front Department in 2023, there had been speculation that Ri Son-gwon's status had been downgraded.
The Korean Central News Agency referred to Ri Son-gwon, who attended a banquet for overseas compatriots celebrating the 80th anniversary of the party's founding that day, as "comrade Director General of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea."
The Unification Ministry had presumed Ri Son-gwon's rank to be "party 10th Bureau Director." In the Workers' Party organizational structure, a bureau sits under a specialized department, so his standing would be lower compared with a conventional party Director General. Earlier, after declaring inter-Korean relations to be "two hostile states at war" at the end of 2023, North Korea said it changed the name of the United Front Department to the "Workers' Party Central Committee 10th Bureau" and reorganized it into an institution focused on psychological warfare against the South.
However, with the Korean Central News Agency introducing Ri Seok-gwon that day as a "party Director General," it was confirmed that he still retains the Director General status. Previously, North Korean media on Jan. 9 in an article about a banquet for the Chongryon students' children's art troupe and on May 25 in an article about the central report meeting marking the 70th anniversary of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) had referred to Ri Son-gwon as a "party Central Committee Director General."
If, as our government has estimated, Ri Son-gwon is the "10th Bureau Director," it is unknown why North Korean media call him a Director General rather than a bureau director.