S. Korea unveils book about updated profiles of N.K. officials

SEOUL, Jan. 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's unification ministry said Tuesday it released a book containing updated profiles of North Korea's key party, state and military officials including Ri Son-gwon, the new chief of the North's inter-Korean agency.

The ministry released its annual Who's Who on a total of 361 North Korean figures after compiling information based on the North's media reports and announcements, it added.

The book, which also contains short biographies of 61 late officials, was published in a bid to help understand and analyze the North Korean regime, according to the Ministry of Unification.

The ministry said it added 16 new officials mainly based on North Korea's decisions at a party congress and parliamentary meeting held last year.

In late 2016, Ri was named the chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK), the state-level committee handling affairs with South Korea.

At a parliamentary assembly held in June, North Korea decided to upgrade the CPRK to a state-level organization, which is presumed to be controlled by the newly created state apparatus State Affairs Commission (SAC).

Choe Hwi, 63, is a newly elected member of the central committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea at the party congress in May. Choe, a vice department director of the party's central committee, had underwent reeducation in a rural area for months since late May 2016 over his mishandling of the party's work on agitation and propaganda, the ministry said in August last year.

Kim Il-guk was named sports minister probably in November last year and was appointed chairman of North Korea's Olympic Committee on Monday, according to the country's state media.

Seoul's ministry also added that it issued a book about information on an estimated 7,700 North Korean organizations and agencies and 13,250 figures who belong to them.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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