Choe Ryong-hae, a senior Pyongyang official, has resumed public activities about three months after he was reportedly sent to a rural farm for punishment, the North’s media showed Friday.
Choe, a secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, is believed to have been receiving re-education at a farm since November as punishment for his mishandling of a newly built hydroelectric power plant project according to intelligence officials here.
Choe’s disappearance from the public eye had spawned speculation over his fate under leader Kim Jong-un’s reign of terror. Many North Korean officials have been purged under Kim’s rule that began in late 2011.
Choe delivered a speech on Thursday at an event to celebrate the 70th founding anniversary of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League, a North Korean youth organization, according to the Korean Central News Agency.
Analysts said it was a clearer sign that Choe has been reinstated as a party secretary and one of the closest aides to Kim.
But the Unification Ministry remained cautious about Choe’s reinstatement.
“More information is needed to judge his current status,” Jeong Joon-hee, a ministry spokesman, told a regular press briefing.
Choe, who also handles youth-related affairs, has been punished for water leakage at the hydroelectric power station at the foot of Mount Baekdu, the highest peak on the Korean Peninsula, where many young people were mobilized.
Choe’s whereabouts have been in the media spotlight since he was found to have been omitted from a list of a committee that prepared the state funeral for a North Korean military marshal in early November.
But his name appeared on a list of members that prepared the funeral for Kim Yang-gon, a party secretary handling inter-Korean affairs, who died in a car accident in December.
Experts did not rule out that Choe may take the post handling inter-Korean or international affairs at the party, succeeding Kim.
“At an upcoming party congress in May, the North’s leader may appoint Choe as a party secretary on inter-Korean affairs or global issues,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.
Choe has been also widely seen as North Korea’s point man on China following the execution of Jang Song-thaek, the once-powerful uncle of the North’s leader.
In 2013, Choe met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing as Kim’s envoy, while last September he visited Beijing for China’s massive military parade.
“Choe may be given a role of bridge to help resolve strained ties with China,” said Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University. “Also we cannot rule out that he could be assigned to the post on inter-Korean affairs.” (Yonhap)
