hanja rr context article_title mr hangul
禹 東 測 u dong-cheuk north u tong-chuk
 u tong-ch ` ŭk 우동측
u tong-chuk

u tong-chuk -lrb- born august 8 , 1942 -rrb- is a north korean official .
he was a politburo member of the central committee of the workers ' party of korea .
in addition , he was head of state security department from 2009 to 2012 .
after february 2012 , he disappeared from public after attending celebrations for late leader kim jong-il 's birthday .
according to official north korean state media , u graduated from kim il-sung university with a philosophy degree .
he later served in a number of minor posts in the organization and guidance department of the workers ' party of korea before being moved to a leading position in the ministry of state security -lrb- or state security department -rrb- in the 1990s .
he was promoted to colonel-general , member of the national defence commission , and first vice-minister of state security in 2009 .
this put him in charge of the ministry and gave him access to the country 's top echelon , as the ministry was reportedly under kim jong-il directly , and he accompanied kim jong-il on a number of tours and official events , including a dinner with former us president bill clinton .
on 28 september 2010 , the 3rd party conference elevated him to member of the politburo and the central military commission ; the day before he had been promoted to general of the korean people 's army .
after kim jong-il 's death in december 2011 , u was seen accompanying the late leader 's hearse and was reported having a role in purging the ministry of state security to ensure loyalty to kim jong-un .
he has disappeared from public since february 2012 and his posts had been taken over by kim won-hong by april 2012 .
in july 2013 , u tong-chuk showed up along with other former officials at events marking the 60th anniversary of the end of the korean war .
