(LEAD) High-profile chief of N.K.'s abolished body appears to retain director title

▲ Ri Son-gwon (R, front), director of North Korea's now-abolished United Front Department, attends an event in Pyongyang marking the 70th anniversary of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, in this May 25, 2025, file photo from Korean Central Television. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

(LEAD) N Korea-party official

(LEAD) High-profile chief of N.K.'s abolished body appears to retain director title

(ATTN: RECASTS headline; UPDATES with more info in paras 2, 4, 7)

SEOUL, Oct. 13 (Yonhap) -- Ri Son-gwon, director of North Korea's now-abolished United Front Department (UFD), which handled affairs with South Korea, appears to have retained his director title even after the organ's dissolution, South Korea's unification ministry said Monday.

"Director Ri Son-gwon is presumed to retain his director rank," Koo Byoung-sam, the ministry's spokesperson, said in a briefing following a report of North Korean state media calling him by the title.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Ri delivered a speech at a banquet for overseas North Koreans the previous day marking the 80th anniversary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), addressing him as "comrade director of the WPK's Central Committee."

South Korea's unification ministry previously said North Korea has disbanded all of its roughly 10 official organizations responsible for addressing inter-Korean issues, following leader Kim Jong-un's 2023 order to designate South Korea as its primary foe.

As part of the organizational revamp, the UFD was reportedly downgraded in status and renamed Bureau 10 of the party's Central Committee, according to the unification ministry's assessment.

Monday's KCNA report confirmed Ri's directorial status after his fate had been the subject of speculation since the UFD's abolition.

As the UFD presumably transformed into Bureau 10, Ri is believed to continue handling tasks related to overseas North Koreans, which were previously overseen by a committee under the department, Koo said.

Ri has had a prominent role in North Korea's officialdom, having served as a member of the party's powerful politburo and as foreign minister from 2020-2022.

The precise status of Bureau 10 within North Korea's organizational hierarchy remains unclear.

Citing a foreigner who recently visited North Korea, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young has said he heard that the UFD had taken down its signboard, but its office and personnel remain in place.

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