This is part of a larger series examining some of North Korea’s key institutions. The series has also covered the State Affairs Commission, the Politburo and the Central Committee, the Central Military Commission, the Supreme People’s Assembly, the Cabinet of Ministers, non-Party organizations, paramilitaries, local administration, the system of jurisprudence, and the Ministry of Railroads.

Of all the DPRK’s institutions, the country’s secret police, currently called the Ministry for Protection of the State (국가보위성), is the least researched and the least known to the general public.

There are two fundamental reasons for