Ministry of State Security (Korea)

The **Ministry of State Security** is the secret police agency of Korea. It is an autonomous agency of the Korean government reporting directly to the Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). In addition to its internal security duties, it is involved in the operation of concentration camps and various other clandestine activities.

It is one of two agencies which provides security or protection to Korean officials and VIPs alongside the Supreme Guard Command.

## History

The Ministry of State Security was created in 1973, having its functions split from the Ministry of Public Security which was left in charge of the Korean People's Public Security (KPPS). The structure was created based on the Soviet KGB.

Some defectors and sources have suggested that unlike its Eastern Bloc counterparts, state security functions are actually conducted by several larger and different security bodies that operate under the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) or the Korean People's Army (KPA, the Korean armed forces), each with its own unique responsibilities and classified names that are referred to by code (e.g. Room 39), and that the agency is little more than a hollow shell used by the elite to coordinate their activities and provide cover for them.

The post of Security Department head was left vacant after Minister Ri Chun-su's death in 1987, although it was de facto if not de jure controlled by Kim Jong-il and the WPK Organization and Guidance Department he headed. In 1998, the SSD migrated under the National Defence Commission, also chaired by Kim Jong-il. Finally, in 2007, it was transferred under the WPK Administration Department, whose first vice director became responsible of the SSD daily work, but it continued to have obligations towards the Organization and Guidance Department.

In November 2011, it was reported that General U Tong-chuk had been appointed permanent Minister of State Security, the first of this kind since 1987, filling a post left unoccupied for 24 years. This was almost concurrent with General Ri Myong-su's appointment as minister of People's Security. Other sources also claimed that Kim Jong-un worked at the State Security Department before and/or after his anointment as heir apparent in September 2010. Kim Won-hong was appointed minister in April 2012 as the position was restored following Kim Jong-il's death. He served as Kim Jong Un's aide until February 2017 when he was allegedly dismissed for filing false reports to Kim Jong Un and mishandling an aide of Kim Jong Un. He was formally replaced in October 2017 at a WPK central committee plenum by Jong Kyong Thaek.

## Duties

The SSD is tasked to investigate political and economic crimes in Korea, especially for the former on crimes against the Kim family. It's also tasked to conduct VIP protection duties for Korean diplomats and employees who work in various Korean embassies, consulates and other foreign missions abroad.

The SSD is known to link up with various government ministries and agencies to help them with their various missions.

## Name

Various U.S. expert authorities on the Korean government appear to disagree on the name and place of the force within the government of the DPRK. The CIA World Factbook refers to the organization as the Civil Security Forces, and says it is part of the Korean People's Army (KPA). However, this may be a misreading of the Factbook, as it does not appear to refer to a specific force, merely the numerous civilian security bodies.

The Library of Congress Country Studies, the Federation of American Scientists, Globalsecurity.org, and Joseph Bermudez, in his book The Armed Forces of the DPRK all refer to the organization as the State Security Department. They further say that it is a civilian agency and thus not part of the KPA, instead reporting directly to the Chairman of the WPK.