After nearly a year of absence from public view, Ri Il-hwan, the propaganda secretary of North Korea’s Workers’ Party, has resurfaced. Analysts are divided on the reasons for his disappearance, with some suggesting he may have faced disciplinary action resulting in a prolonged house arrest before his return, while others speculate he could have been sidelined due to health issues.
On Wednesday, North Korean state media, including the party’s official newspaper Rodong Sinmun and the Korean Central News Agency, reported that an expanded meeting of the 13th Plenary Session of the 8th Central Committee was held under the leadership of General Secretary Kim Jong Un on Tuesday.
Published photographs show Ri seated at the front of the podium alongside key figures such as General Secretary Kim, Premier Park Tae-sung, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly Choe Ryong-hae, and the party’s organizational secretary Cho Yong-won.
Prior to this appearance, Ri had not been seen in North Korean media since attending the New Year celebration for innovative workers and contributors on January 2.
Initially, there were speculations that he was preoccupied with internal matters related to the 80th anniversary of the party’s founding on October 10. However, as his absence persisted, rumors intensified that he might have faced irreversible disciplinary action, possibly indicating a purge.
Nevertheless, Ri’s presence at this crucial meeting, where North Korea reviews its annual activities, suggests that he has likely regained his political standing. Even if he received severe punishment, it appears he has been reinstated to oversee North Korea’s propaganda strategy.
In the early days of his rule, General Secretary Kim consolidated power through a campaign of fear, purging many close aides of his predecessor, Kim Jong Il, and even executing his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, a key figure in the North Korean regime.
However, following the initial wave of large-scale purges, Kim has shifted his personnel strategy towards rehabilitating officials.
For instance, Cho, often referred to as Kim’s shadow for over a decade, also vanished from North Korean media for about two months earlier this year. This followed his taking responsibility for a scandal involving local officials’ drinking parties.
After General Secretary Kim publicly denounced the officials’ drinking misconduct as a major crime during an expanded meeting of the Secretariat on January 27, Cho was last seen on February 28 at a groundbreaking ceremony for a local industrial factory in Kaepung District.
However, on April 22, reports emerged showing him attending a product evaluation meeting for local industrial factories in Pyongyang, leading the government to conclude that he had not been purged but had instead been under a two-month probation.
Similarly, Pak Jong-chul, a high-ranking military official and deputy chairman of the Workers’ Party’s Central Military Commission, was removed from a key position due to inadequate responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 but returned after several months. He was again sidelined from a significant role in December 2022 but regained his status about nine months later.
As this pattern recurs, experts analyze that General Secretary Kim’s approach to managing officials has evolved significantly since his early days in power.
Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, stated that in the past, North Korea would typically purge or reassign officials who committed serious errors. Recently, however, they have begun to emphasize performance-based assessments, implementing a cycle of punishment and reinstatement based on individual cases.
Professor Lim Eum-chul from Kyungnam University’s Institute for East Asian Studies noted that the propaganda work assigned to Ri is crucial for Kim to communicate the party’s policies to the people and achieve results. His year-long absence indicates that Kim is rigorously enforcing discipline among officials.
However, the government also acknowledges that North Korea has never officially disclosed whether Ri faced punishment, leaving open the possibility that he may have temporarily stepped back from his duties due to health issues.