Kwak Chang-sik ( ko, 곽창식) is a North Korean politician who is serving as member of the 8th Politburo of the 8th Central Committee 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 ...

Biography

In March 2019, he was elected as a delegate to the 14th Supreme People's Assembly. On April 10, 2019, at the 4th Plenary Meeting of the 7th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, he was elected as a candidate member of the Party Central Committee and was appointed as the commander of the

Supreme Guard Command Supreme Guard Command () (also known as Unit 963, the Escort Bureau, Guard Command, Guard Bureau and the General Guard Bureau) is the personal bodyguard force tasked with the protection of North Korea's ruling Kim family. The current Supreme Gua ...

, succeeding

Yun Jong-rin Yun Jong-rin (born 1938) is a general of the Korean People's Army Ground Force. From 2010 until 2019, he served as the commander of North Korea's Supreme Guard Command, when he was replaced by Kwak Chang-sik. The force is responsible for the p ...

. In December 2019, he attended the 3rd enlarged meeting of the 7th Central Military Commission of the Party and the 5th Plenary Session of the

7th 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube (algebra), cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion ...

Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea The Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea ( ko, 조선로동당 중앙위원회) is the highest party body between national meetings of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), the ruling party of North Korea. According to WPK rules, the ...

, and was promoted to a full member of the Central Committee. In August 2020, he attended the 6th Plenary Session of the

. In October 2020, he led the Supreme guard command column and attended the

military parade A military parade is a formation of soldiers whose movement is restricted by close-order manoeuvering known as drilling or marching. The military parade is now almost entirely ceremonial, though soldiers from time immemorial up until the lat ...

marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the party. In January 2021, he was re-elected as a member of the Central Committee at the 8th Party Congress. In February 2021, he attended the 8th 2nd Plenary Session of the Workers' Party of Korea. He appeared at the

on April 25, 2022, leading the Supreme Guard Command column. In May 2022, he served as a member of the funeral committee of

Hyon Chol-hae Hyon Chol-hae ( ko, 현철해/玄哲海;August 13, 1934 – May 19, 2022) was a North Korean military officer. He was born in Country Yanji,Province Jilin,Manchukuo. During the Korean War, Hyon served as Kim Il-sung's bodyguard, a role which ...

. He appeared leading the Supreme Guard Command column at the military parade marking the anniversary of the

Day of Victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War The Day of Victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War (Victory Day) is a national holiday in North Korea celebrated on July 27 to mark the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement which brought a cease fire to the Fatherland Liberation War t ...

July 27, 2023.

References

Members of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea {{improve categories, date=September 2023