North Korea carried out a large-scale personnel reshuffle at the 9th party congress, excluding Choe Ryong Hae, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly, from the list of the party Central Committee.
According to the Korean Central News Agency on the 23rd, North Korea on the 22nd elected 138 members and 111 alternate members of the Central Committee on the fourth day of the party congress. Compared with the 8th party congress five years ago, more than 70 names changed on the list of the party Central Committee, the key gateway to North Korea's senior posts, with more than half replaced.
Choe Ryong Hae, who has served since 2019 for seven years as chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly, North Korea's highest sovereign body under its constitution, was not included in the latest lists of Central Committee members and alternate members. The chairman of the Standing Committee concurrently serves as a member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau, and the 76-year-old's elimination from the party Central Committee suggests stepping down from that post. North Korea is expected to form the 15th Supreme People's Assembly after the party congress through delegate elections.
Pak Jong Chon, a former key military figure and party secretary, and Ri Pyong Chol, the party's senior adviser for munitions policy, were also excluded from the Central Committee list. Both had been awarded the title of marshal of the Korean People's Army and served as vice chairmen of the party Central Military Commission. While elderly veterans are stepping back from the front line, Cho Chun Ryong, the party's munitions industry department director who led the development of new weapons systems and was awarded the rank of colonel general, was named to the Central Committee.
Ri Son-gwon, Director General of the party's 10th Bureau in charge of inter-Korean affairs, and Kim Yong Chol, a party adviser, were also omitted from both the Central Committee and alternate member lists this time, unlike at the 8th party congress. This shows that the perception line of "two hostile states" regarding inter-Korean relations is being maintained and, coupled with the de-emphasis on inter-Korean issues, the political footing of officials in the inter-Korean field has shrunk.