New revelations about the ranking of a top North Korean official have raised questions about the fate of the United Front Department (UFD), one of the main government offices responsible for inter-Korean affairs before Kim Jong Un denounced reunification as a policy goal.

Last May, South Korea’s unification minister claimed that the DPRK had demoted the UFD and reorganized it under the name Bureau No. 10, tasking the lower-ranked organization with psychological warfare operations against the South.

But last week, state media referred to former UFD chief Ri Son Gwon as a “department director” when