Choe Ryong-hae

Choe Ryong-hae (born 15 January 1950) is a North Korean politician and military officer who currently serves as Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly and First Vice President of the State Affairs Commission, holding both positions since April 2019. Due to holding the first office, he was considered the head of state of North Korea before the country's constitution was amended to transfer this position to the President of the State Affairs Commission, Kim Jong Un. He is also a member of the Presidium of the Politburo and Vice Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). He also served as Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un's military second-in-command, currently being third top-ranking official in North Korea after Kim Jong Un and premier Kim Tok-hun. Early life Choe Ryong-hae was born in Sinchon County, South Hwanghae Province, on 15 January 1950, to Choe Hyon, who fought as a guerrilla affiliated Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army alongside Kim Il Sung and subsequently served as defence minister of North Korea. As such, Choe is considered a second-generation revolutionary from a privileged background. He joined the Korean People's Army (KPA) in 1967 and graduated from Kim Il Sung University as a political and economic expert. Career Choe's political career began in the 1970s when he worked as a political instructor on behalf of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) at Kim Il Sung University. In the 1980s, he was a leading member of the League of Socialist Working Youth of Korea, being its vice-chairman from 1981 and chairman from 1986; when it was reformed into the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League in 1996, he was appointed its first secretary. In 1986, he was also elected deputy to the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), member of the SPA Presidium and full member of the Central Committee of the WPK. In the 1990s, he also led the DPR Korea Football Association and the Taekwando Association of Korean Youth. He was awarded the title Hero of the DPRK in 1993. He was replaced as first secretary of the Youth League by Ri Il-hwan at the 14th plenary meeting of the league's central committee (January 1998), officially "due to his illness". This was actually because routine party audits found he was selling scrap metal to foreign buyers without official permission.