O Kuk - ryol O Kuk - ryol ( Korean : , born 1931 in Jilin , China ) is a North Korean military general and since April 2009 , has been a Vice Chairman of the National Defence Commission of North Korea as head of the Operations Department . The son of O Jung - song and nephew of O Jung - hup , who allegedly fought the Japan ese with Kim Il - sung , O Kuk - ryol was among war orphans under the care of Kim Il - sung ' s wife Kim Jong - suk and was a close personal friend of Kim Jong - il from childhood . He has been called the second most powerful man in North Korea . As a Kim loyalist , press reports have named him as a figure to watch in the leadership succession of Kim Jong - un , and the regime appeared to be purging O ' s protégés in January 2011 to prevent him from being a threat to Jong - un . After attending Mangyongdae Revolutionary School , Kim Il Sung University and air force academies in the Soviet Union , O served as an air force commander , beginning as a major general and superintendent of the Kim Chaek Air Force Academy , the North ’ s top air force academy , in 1964 , and then as a lieutenant general and air force commander in 1968 before joining politics in 1970 as a member of the Central Committee of the Workers ' Party of Korea . He was also elected deputy to the Supreme People ' s Assembly in 1967 . In 1973 , he was among the pilots who were sent to aid the Egyptian Air Force during the Yom Kippur War . He was promoted again in 1979 to Chief of General Staff of the Korean People ' s Army , after serving two years as the deputy chief of staff . He became part of the " 1980 group , " who rose to power as Kim Jong - il started succeeding Kim Il - sung at the Party ' s 6th Congress , when O was elected member of the Politburo and the Central Military Commission . He was later awarded the Order of Kim Il - sung , promoted to general and put in charge of the Mirim Electronic Warfare Institute for developing cyber warfare . A dispute with Minister of People ' s Armed Forces O Jin - u in 1988 led to his demotion and forced him to undertake a period of re - education ; this may have had to do with enabling his later counterfeiting activities . In 1989 , O was pardoned and appointed head of the Civil Defense Department of the Workers ' Party of Korea , then head of the Operations Department , which was transferred under the National Defence Commission in 2009 . O Kuk - ryol migrated with the department assuming the post of vice - chairman of the NDC in April 2009 . He was reelected Central Committee member at the September 2010 WPK Conference , but kept out of the Politburo and the Central Military Commission . Nevertheless he was considered among " senior officials of party , state , army , security organs and national institutions " . O Kuk - ryol allegedly took part at a meeting of top leaders held immediately after Kim Jong - il ' s death on December 17 , 2011 in order to plan funerals and succession . He was a member of the Kim Jong - il funeral committee . In June 2009 , O was identified by international authorities and the United States government as a key figure in North Korea ' s currency counterfeiting activities , specifically with United States one hundred - dollar bill s , known as Superdollar s . He was reported to have also involved members of his family , including his son O Se - won , in the counterfeiting business , which reportedly took place at the Pyongsong Trademark Printing Factory , a factory under the control of O ' s Operations Department . His other son O Se - uk , who was also a military general , defected to the United States in 2004 . He also has five daughters , the eldest of which is a screenwriter for a film studio . O is also reportedly fluent in Russian , Chinese , and English . In 2006 a South Korean intelligence report noted he was perceived as reliable and knew South Korea well .