김정은 시대 북한 정보기구에 관한 고찰

Abstract

This article analyzes the reality and characteristics of intelligence agencies during the Kim Jong-un era in North Korea. Today's intelligence agencies in each country work for national security and national interest. However, North Korea's intelligence agencies are being used as tools to complete the hereditary system. Kim Jong-un, who inherited power after Kim Jong-il's death, used intelligence agencies to effectively build power within a short period of time. North Korea guarantees independent intelligence agencies and enforces loyalty to the leader through mutual checks and competition among intelligence agencies. In 2009, Kim Jong-un carried out a complete reorganization of the intelligence service. Intelligence agencies are broadly classified into domestic (State Security Department, Ministry of Social Security, etc.) and South Korean/overseas organizations (General Bureau of Reconnaissance, Bureau of North Korea Cultural Exchange Bureau, Bureau of North Korea United Front Operation, etc.) The characteristics of North Korean intelligence agencies are as follows. First, North Korea's intelligence agencies have a top priority to defend the Kim Jong-un regime. It also performs operations against South Korea. Second, Kim Jong-un is in direct control and is forcing a competition for mutual loyalty. In order to use the halo of Kim Il-sung, the name of the intelligence agency in the Kim Il-sung era is being used again. Third, the Organizational and Guidance Department of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea monitors and supervises intelligence agencies. The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland was formalized as a national organization. Fourth, the Overseas Intelligence Bureau (5 Bureaus) of the General Bureau of Reconnaissance collects military information against South Korea and the United States. The Technology Reconnaissance Bureau (3 stations) is strengthening cyber operations such as cyber terrorism and hacking. Fifth, Kim Jong-un is strengthening surveillance and control to prevent North Korean defection by mobilizing all intelligence agencies. In particular, we are strengthening operations against the South, such as the South Korean defector disguised as a spy, assassination of certain individuals, and collection of state secrets. In the future, North Korea will mobilize all the elite hackers possessed by intelligence agencies to conduct cyber psychological warfare to hack financial networks, steal state secrets and personal information, and promote inter-Korean conflict, Korea-US conflict, and inter-Korean conflict. It will also carry out spying activities against the South, North Korean defectors re-entering North Korea, and cyber operations. Considering that North Korean intelligence agencies continue to engage in information activities against South Korea and the United States for the purpose of revolution against South Korea, it is necessary to prepare preemptive measures such as supplementing the network of agencies that are vulnerable to information exposure.