On February 3, the South Korean government announced that the head of North Korea’s Ministry of State Security, Kim Won Hong, had been fired. Reporting the news in a regular briefing, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Unification explained that Kim was placed under investigation in mid-January by the Organization and Guidance Department (OGD) of the KWP, which handles personnel matters for the party, promptly demoted from four-star (daejang) to one-star (sojang) general, and finally relieved of his post.

The Kim Won Hong case warrants further consideration now for two reasons. First, because it was not always