North Korea's Kim visits security ministries, judicial organs on founding anniversary

Seoul, Nov 19 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited the public and state security ministries and judicial bodies on their 80th founding anniversaries, emphasising their role in defending the North's socialist system, state media reported on Wednesday.

Kim paid congratulatory visits to the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of State Security, the Supreme Court and the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office the previous day on the occasion of the bodies' 80th founding anniversaries, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

During his visit to the state security ministry, Kim was greeted by Minister Ri Chang-dae and other senior officials, and he extended "warm military greetings" to its service personnel for following "the road of patriotism and loyalty" in defending the party and the state, the KCNA said.

Kim said it was thanks to the "feats and brilliant merits" of security officers that the ruling party has written pages of legendary transformations and victories against hostile forces, expressing confidence that service members will continue to fulfill their responsibility and duty in the future.

The state security ministry is an intelligence organ in North Korea, wielding significant authority in surveilling and detecting dissidents through its tightly knit surveillance networks. Wednesday's KCNA report described the ministry as a "political defender" of the ruling party.

It marks the first time Kim has visited the ministry since 2012, a year after he took office. Party secretary Jo Yong-won, party director Kim Hyong-sik and Kang Yun-sok, vice chairman of the parliamentary standing committee, accompanied Kim on the visit.

In 2009, he also visited the state security ministry while still heir to his father and later leader Kim Jong-il, according to an inscription on a stone monument at the ministry seen in released photos. The inscription noted that Kim had visited the ministry several times, Yonhap news agency reported.

During Kim's visit to the public security ministry, he also emphasised its mission to "guarantee by law and arms the activities of the (ruling) party and the government who devote all their energies to defending Korean-style socialist system and promoting the people's wellbeing."

In separate visits to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office, the North Korean leader also expressed expectation that officials would further strengthen the socialist legal system by thoroughly applying the ideas of the party, the KCNA said.

The back-to-back congratulatory visits to security and judicial organs, responsible for social surveillance and law enforcement, appear to signal the regime's intention to tighten its grip on social control.

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