What happened to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's closest aide? The Workers' Party's organizational secretary and others have not been seen in the media for nearly two months

Cho Yong-won, the party's organizational secretary and the closest aide to North Korean leader Kim Jung Eun, was last seen on March 1st, with his whereabouts reported in the party's newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun.
The South Korean media is paying attention to the situation, wondering if there is something unusual happening around him (Yonhap News Agency). The South Korean government is also keeping a close eye on the situation. In addition, the appearance of party secretary Ri Il-hwan has also been confirmed as a North Korean official.
He has not been seen in official North Korean reports. When the 8th Central Committee of the Party is inaugurated in 2021, Cho will be ranked third in the party after Kim Jong Un and Choe Ryong Hae, the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly.
His birthplace is unknown, but he is believed to be 67 years old. According to a previous report by the Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo, he graduated from the Department of Physics at Kim Il Sung University in 1995.
Due to preferential treatment for former members of science and engineering, he was appointed as an organizational instructor for the Gangwon Province Party Committee in the southeast of North Korea, and then transferred to the Party Central Organization Guidance Department.
He was appointed First Deputy Director of the Leadership Department. He began accompanying Kim on inspection tours in 2014. He was always by Kim's side during the 2018 inter-Korean summit and the U.S.-North Korea summit.
In July of last year, the northwestern province of Pyeongam-Kuto (North Pyongan Province) was hit by floods, and when Kim Jong-Il inspected the local recovery efforts in September of the same year, Cho was seen by his side.
Cho's current title, party organization secretary, is an important post in the party's highest leadership, and along with the propaganda secretary, it is one of Kim Jong Un's closest aides.
Cho, who is in charge of personnel and evaluation of party executives, is also known as Kim's "shadow power broker."
However, Jo has not been mentioned in North Korean media for nearly two months.
The article was a report on the groundbreaking ceremony for a local factory and general service center, which was held in the Gaepung district of Kaesong City in the south on February 28th.
On the 15th of this month, North Korea held a memorial service entitled "Taeil-eun" to commemorate the birth anniversary of Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of Kim Jong-il.
North Korean media reported that party officials paid tribute to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where Chairman Kim and others rest, but the article also mentioned Prime Minister Park Tae-song and Choe Ryong-hye, Standing Committee Member of the Supreme People's Assembly.
Although the chairman was mentioned, Cho's name was not seen. Also, a new town with 10,000 houses was recently completed in the Hwasong district of the capital, Pyongyang.
On the 15th, a completion ceremony was held at the site, attended by Kim Jong Un. Prime Minister Park, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly Choi, Secretary of the Economic Department Kim Deok-kun, and other close aides and senior officials of Kim Jong Un.
However, in an article published on the 16th by the Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the Workers' Party of Korea, Cho's name was not mentioned. In North Korea, it is common for purged, overthrown or demoted officials to take the official name of Kim Jong Un as a preliminary step.
In the past, there have been many cases of Cho and Ri Il-hwan being left out of the North Korean media.
"The timing of Kim's disappearance from the news coincides with the timing of North Korea's efforts to establish discipline among its officials earlier this year," he said. In January of this year, Kim was arrested in two areas of North Korea for violating the party's internal rules.
The party was concerned that serious misconduct had been confirmed. Following the discovery of the misconduct, the party secretariat held an expanded meeting in the same month, and General Secretary Kim, who attended the meeting, denounced the misconduct as a "political and moral crime."
The drinking of around 40 executives at a reception in Onchon County, South Pyongan Province, in the midwest, was criticized as a violation of party discipline.
In another county in Jagang Province, the supervisory body in charge of agricultural policy was accused of abusing its rights and violating the interests of ordinary citizens.
It is believed that those involved have been disciplined. Furthermore, around the same time, Chairman Kim issued orders for discipline through state-run media such as the Rodong Sinmun.
It is unclear whether these "serious incidents" are related to the unconfirmed movements of Cho and others, but the South Korean Ministry of Unification (
An official from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MOI) said on the 22nd, "We are closely monitoring developments, keeping in mind that there may have been changes in the personal lives of Cho Yong-won and Ri Il-hwan."