Hong Sung-mu

Hong Sung-mu (Korean: 홍승무, born 1 January 1942) is a North Korean nuclear weapons scientist and a Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) official working with North Korea's weapons of mass destruction and space programs. He is the deputy director of the party's Machine Building Industry Department (MBID) and plays a key part in the country's nuclear weapons program.

In this Korean name, the family name is Hong.

Hong Sung-mu
Born (1942-01-01) 1 January 1942
NationalityNorth Korea
Known forNorth Korea's weapons of mass destruction
Scientific career
FieldsNuclear weapons research
InstitutionsMachine Building Industry Department, Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center
PatronsKim Jong-un
Korean name
Chosŏn'gŭl
Revised RomanizationHong Seungmu
McCune–ReischauerHong Sŭng-mu[1]

Hong rose to prominence after the 2011 death of Kim Jong-il and succession of Kim Jong-un, after which he has supervised various weapons tests, including the 2013 and January 2016 North Korean nuclear tests. Hong's involvement in weapons development has landed him on international sanctions lists.

Career

Hong was born on 1 January 1942.[2] He was educated in Central and Eastern Europe, and possibly in the Soviet Union too.[3]

Hong plays an important role in North Korea's weapons of mass destruction and space programs.[4] While Hong's responsibility includes conventional weapons,[2] his work focuses on the nuclear weapons program in particular.[1]

Hong was formerly the chief engineer at the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center.[3] Currently he is the deputy director of the party's Machine Building Industry Department (MBID),[4] where he has worked since the mid-2000s.[3] Since 2010, he has been the number two man of Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) secretary Pak To-chun.[4] Hong's background is in manufacture and production rather than development and research, as opposed to his superior in the MBID, Ju Kyu-chang.[5]

Hong's career took off in earnest after the 2011 death of Kim Jong-il, the country's leader, and the succession of Kim Jong-un.[3] Hong was number 126 on the funeral committee list of Kim Jong-il.[5] Since 2012, he has accompanied Kim on the occasion of various rocket test launches,[3] and on on-the-spot guidance tours since the beginning of 2013.[5] As of 2013, Hong is an alternate member of the Central Committee of the WPK.[6]

Hong played a key part supervising the 2013 and January 2016 North Korean nuclear tests.[4][7] He has appeared in the North Korean media in connection to those tests, the December 2012 launch of the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 satellite,[4] and the country's 2017 nuclear test.[3]

Hong and his fellow associate in the nuclear weapons program, Ri Hong-sop, are known collectively as North Korea's "nuclear duo".[8] The two were the first in line to receive a medal from Kim Jong-un for success in the January 2016 test.[3] Hong's role in the nuclear program has landed him on the sanctions list of either the United Nations, United States, or South Korea.[3] The European Union has added Hong on its "list of persons and entities responsible for the DPRK's nuclear-related, ballistic-missile-related or other weapons of mass destruction-related programmes or persons or entities acting on their behalf or at their direction, or entities owned or controlled by them, subject to restrictive measures".[2]

According to professor Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, Hong is "spearheading the nuclear development programme as a senior party official".[3] North Korea expert Michael Madden calls Hong part of a last generation of "top-level officials ... who studied in the old communist world".[3]

Works
  • Albrecht, D.; Ero, J.; Fodor, Z.; Hernyes, I.; Hong Sung Mu; Khomenko, B.A.; Khovanskij, N.N.; Koncz, P.; Krumstein, Z.V.; Merekov, Y.P.; Petrukhin, V.I.; Seres, Z. (1979). "Investigation of the (p, nd) Reaction on 6Li and 7Li at 670 MeV". Nuclear Physics A. 322 (2–3): 512–525. doi:10.1016/0375-9474(79)90441-X.

References
  1. Mansourov, Alexandre Y. (2013). "Kim Jong Un's First 500 Days: Consolidating Power and Clearing Political Space for National Revival" (PDF). International Journal of Korean Unification Studies. 22 (1): 100. ISSN 1229-6902.
  2. "EUR-Lex – 32016D0785 – EN – EUR-Lex". eur-lex.europa.eu. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  3. "Kim Jong-un's nuclear scientists take centre stage after missile test". The Guardian. Reuters. 5 September 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  4. Madden, Michael (22 September 2014). "The Passing of the Nuclear Torch: The Next Generation of WMD Scientists". 38 North. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  5. Gause, Ken E. (March 2014). North Korean Leadership Dynamics and Decision-making under Kim Jong-un: A Second Year Assessment (PDF) (Report). CNA Analysis & Solutions. p. 92. COP-2013-U-006988-Final. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 June 2017.
  6. Madden, Michael (24 October 2013). "Hong Yong Chil: Third generation munitions industry leader". NK News. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  7. Kim, Sarah (9 March 2016). "Seoul slaps sanctions on North". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  8. Choe Sang-hun; Rich, Motoko; Renau, Natalie; Carlesen, Audrey (15 December 2017). "Rocket Men: The Team Building North Korea's Nuclear Missile". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
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