North Korea Leadership Watch

Research and Analysis on the DPRK Leadership

Kim Myong Nam

Col. Gen. Kim Myong Nam (standing behind KJU 3rd R)

update March 1, 2018

Colonel-General Kim Myong Nam [Kim Myo’ng-nam] is commander of the Pyongyang Defense Command [PDC] and a member of the Workers’ Party of Korea [WPK] Central Committee.  He is also a deputy to the Supreme People’s Assembly.

Kim is an artillery officer by training.  He first appeared prominently in DPRK state media when he attended live fire drills targeting West (Yellow) Sea Islands in the ROK with Kim Jong Un [Kim Cho’ng-u’n] during March 2013.  He was assigned command of the Pyongyang Defense Command [PDC] in 2013.  The PDC is a corps-level unit of approximately 70,000 troops with the responsibility for the military defense of Pyongyang and its immediate vicinity and protecting the DPRK political leadership from a coup by rogue elements of the KPA.

Col. Gen. Kim Myong Nam (6th L)

He was elected a deputy to the SPA in March 2014 and member of the funeral committee for Marshal Ri Ul Sol [Ri U’l-so’l] in November 2015.  Col. Gen. Kim was elected a member of the WPK Central Committee during the 7th Party Congress in May 2016.  He earned his third star and was promoted to Colonel General (sangjang) in April 2017.

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