Is the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party North Korea’s Key Policy Body?

One analyst believes that key decision making for the Kim regime has shifted towards the Workers’ Party due to an increase in meetings of its Central Military Commission after key events:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to have made the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party the country’s primary institution to formulate and communicate policy, a U.S. researcher said.

Michael Madden, an expert on North Korean leadership, made the claim in an article contributed recently to the website 38 North, noting that Kim convened two CMC meetings in August alone, though such meetings were held only twice a year in previous years.

“From 2012 to 2014, the CMC gathered twice a year, about once every six months. The August meetings took place within a week of each other, by contrast, bringing this year’s total to three after a gathering held in late February,” Madden said in the article.

The first of the two August meetings was held on Aug. 20 when military tensions were running high with South Korea following an exchange of artillery fire across the border. During the meeting, Kim declared a “quasi” state of war between the North and the South.

Kim convened the second CMC meeting on Aug. 27, two days after a peace deal defused the military standoff, and replaced several CMC members during the meeting.

“The personnel changes and the commission’s high profile role in the crisis reflect broader indications that Kim is building the CMC into a more inclusive and powerful organization,” Madden said.  [Yonhap]

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