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The Organization and Officers of the North Korean Ministry of Home Affairs, 1948~1950

  • The Journal of Northeast Asia Research
  • Abbr : NEA
  • 2024, 39(2), pp.5-35
  • DOI : 10.18013/jnar.2024.39.2.001
  • Publisher : The Institute for Northeast Asia Research
  • Research Area : Social Science > Political Science > International Politics > International Relations / Cooperation
  • Received : May 13, 2024
  • Accepted : August 4, 2024
  • Published : August 31, 2024

Kim, Seon-ho 1

1국방부군사편찬연구소

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The central department of the North Korean Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) consists of six bureaus and about 180 affiliated departments. The MHA exerted an overwhelming influence on North Korean society by expanding its organization three times as compared to the North Korean People’s Committee’s Home Affairs Bureau and establishing an internal agency from the center to the provinces. In addition, the MHA secured the new government from domestic and foreign threats and closely controlled the residents by organizing various departments related to police affairs, political crime, and resident life. The central department of the MHA was occupied by ethnic Koreans in USSR and Korean Volunteer Army(KVA) group. In particular, the KPA group was in control of the MHA and the Home Affairs Army, and the ethnic Koreans in USSR took control of the political security agency. In addition, North Korea’s political forces achieved checks and balances against the armed forces by sharing the roles of the People’s Army and the Home Affairs Army from the Northeastern Anti-Japanese Union Army Group and KVA Group. The MHA made the rank, career, and politics of the officers the standard for the selection of officers, and deliberately employed the working class who worked for a long time at the internal affairs agency.

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