HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Ministry of State Security of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (
Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language * ...
: 조선민주주의인민공화국 국가보위성) is the
secret police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of ...
agency of
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 Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and ...
. It is an autonomous agency of the
North Korean government In the North Korean government, the Cabinet is the administrative and executive body. The North Korean government consists of three branches: administrative, legislative, and judicial. However, they are not independent of each other, but all br ...
reporting directly to the Supreme Leader. In addition to its internal security duties, it is involved in the operation of North Korea's concentration camps and various other hidden activities. The agency is reputed to be one of the most brutal secret police forces in the world, and has been involved in numerous
human rights abuses Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...
. It is one of two agencies which provides security or protection to North Korean officials and VIPs alongside the Supreme Guard Command.


History

In 1945, the DPRK Security was established, being attached to the "Police Department". In 1948, it became Ministry of Internal Affairs ( ko, 내무성 정치보위국) with the Bureau of Political Protection attached. In February 1949, it became the Political Security Agency ( ko, 정치보위부로). On September 12, 1949, Bowman Lee Chang-ok, a violent man, was purged and reorganized and absorbed into social safety. In September 1948, the National Political Affairs Department, which specializes in political prisoners in the North Korean region, was newly established. On August 20, 1949, however, after Lee Chang-ok, the deputy secretary of the Republic of Korea, escaped from Haeju, South Korea, along with Kim Kang and others, the organization was abolished after a massive purge. It was integrated into the Ministry of Social Safety (later known as the Ministry of People's Security). In 1951 it was renamed to Social Security Political Security Agency. In 1952, Department of Homeland Security. In 1962, it became Social and Political Security Agency ( ko, 사회안전성 정치보위국). The SSD was created in 1973, being separated from the Ministry of Public Security. Some defectors and sources have suggested that unlike its
Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
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 The Korean People's Army (KPA; ) is the military force of North Korea and the armed wing of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). Under the ''Songun'' policy, it is the central institution of North Korean society. Currently, WPK General Se ...
(KPA, the North Korean armed forces), each with its own unique responsibilities and classified names that are referred to by code (e.g.
Room 39 Room 39 (officially Central Committee Bureau 39 of the Workers' Party of Korea, also referred to as Bureau 39, Division 39, or Office 39) is a secretive North Korean party organization that seeks ways to maintain the foreign currency slush fu ...
), 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 Kim Jong-il (; ; ; born Yuri Irsenovich Kim;, 16 February 1941 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011. He led North Korea from the 1994 death of his father Kim ...
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 A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...
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 An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...
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. So Tae-ha is the vice minister, while Kim Chang-sop serves as the head of the political department of the ministry. On October 21, 2021, the MSS was instructed not to surveil North Koreans living near the Chinese-North Korean border who are known to be free from any ideological suspicions.


Duties

The Ministry of State Security is tasked to investigate political and economic crimes in North Korea, especially for the former on crimes against the Kim family. It's also tasked to conduct VIP protection duties for North Korean diplomats and employees who work in various North Korean embassies, consulates and other foreign missions abroad. The Ministry is known to link up with various government ministries and agencies to help them with their various missions.


Agency directors


Ranks


Notes


References


Citations


Sources

* {{Authority control Communist repression 1973 establishments in North Korea Law enforcement in North Korea North Korean intelligence agencies Protective security units Secret police Government agencies of North Korea