Ju Kyu-chang (25 November 1928 – 3 September 2018) was a

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

n politician, who served as the director of the

Workers' Party of Korea The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) is the founding and sole ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. Founded in 1949 from the merger of the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party of ...

's (WPK) Machine-Building Industry Department. Ju was reportedly the head of North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. His background was in

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

, as opposed to his deputy director

Hong Sung-mu Hong Sung-mu (, born 1 January 1942) is a North Korean nuclear weapons scientist and a Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) official working with North Korea's weapons of mass destruction and space programs. He is the deputy director of the party's M ...

, who is more manufacture-oriented. Ju was named to the

Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea The Central Military Commission of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (CMC) () is an organ of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) which is responsible for coordinating the Party organizations within the ...

in 2010. Ju died in Pyongyang on 3 September 2018 from

pancytopenia Pancytopenia is a medical condition in which there is significant reduction in the number of almost all blood cells (red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, monocytes, lymphocytes, etc.). If only two parameters from the complete blood coun ...

Awards and honors

A frame displaying Ju's decorations was placed at the foot of his bier during his funeral.

References

1928 births 2018 deaths Alternate members of the 6th Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea Members of the 6th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea {{NorthKorea-politician-stub