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Ri Il-hwan (Korean: 리일환, born 1960) is a North Korean politician and a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). He is currently the director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department (PAD) of the party.

Early life

Ri Il-hwan was born in 1960 in Pyongyang. He was educated at Kim Il-sung University and the Mangyongdae Revolutionary School.

Career

Ri was commander of a "Speed Campaign" for the League of Socialist Working Youth of Korea (later Kim Il-sung Socialist Youth League, KISYL) in 1992. He was elected First Secretary of the Central Committee of the KISYL at the fourteenth session of its eight plenary meeting on 23–25 November 1998, succeeding Choe Ryong-hae.

He was in charge of a KISYL delegation that visited China in March 2000. During this visit, he met with President Hu Jintao on 20 March 2000. He was also tasked with South Korean president Kim Dae-jung's visit to the Mangyongdae Children's Palace. Ri supervised the construction of the Youth Hero Motorway and opened it in October 2000. He was also present at groundbreaking ceremony of a 30,000-unit housing project near the motorway on 6 April 2001. In March 2001, Ri led a KISYL delegation that visited Thailand and Laos. He was removed from office in 2002 and was sent away for "revolutionization".

Ri's next post was in the Propaganda and Agitation Department (PAD) of the party, becoming a section chief there around 2004. From thereon until 2007, he wrote and proliferated works honoring Ko Yong-hui, wife of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Ri held a series of posts as section chief and deputy director in PAD and the party's General Propaganda Department, being promoted to the deputy director of PAD by 2008. In 2020, he became its full director.

In 2012, Ri became the secretary tasked with publicity and information of the Pyongyang City Committee of the WPK. He took part in numerous mass rallies and presided over various public events.

In 2014, Ri became the Director of the Workers and Social Organizations Department of the WPK, replacing Ri Yong-su, who was demoted following the purge of Jang Song-thaek. Ri Il-hwan renewed his director post at the 7th Congress of the WPK in May 2016 and was also elected member of the Central Committee of the WPK. He was appointed a Vice Chairman of the WPK and a member of the Politburo of the WPK at the fifth plenary session of the CC of the WPK on 28–31 December 2019.

Ri was first elected to the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) in July 1998 and became a member of its Presidium in its first session in September. He was re-elected to the SPA in the 2019 election.

Ri has been awarded the title of Hero of Labor in March 2001.

References

1. ^ 리일환. North Korea Information Portal (in Korean). Ministry of Unification. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
2. North Korea Handbook 2002, p. 892.
3. North Korea Handbook 2002, p. 391.
4. ^ "Ri Il Hwan". North Korea Leadership Watch. 27 February 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
5. North Korea Handbook 2002, p. 378.
6. "Nearly Half of North Korean Party Vice Chairmen Replaced in Recent Convention". Tasnim News Agency. 19 January 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
7. Kim So-youn Lee Je-hun (2 January 2020). "N. Korea reshuffles its leadership for 2020". The Hankyoreh. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
8. "Report of the Fifth Plenary Meeting of the 7th Central Committee of the WPK (Kim Jong Un's 2020 New Year Address)". The National Committee on North Korea. Retrieved 7 May 2020.

Works cited

• North Korea Handbook. Seoul: Yonhap News Agency. 2002. ISBN 978-0-7656-3523-5.

External links

• "To Hold Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un as Head of WPK Is Firm Will of Millions of Party Members and Other People: Ri Il Hwan", KCNA

• Members of the Supreme People's Assembly
• 1960 births
• People from Pyongyang
• Living people
• Members of the 8th Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea
• Members of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea
• Vice Chairmen of the Workers' Party of Korea and its predecessors