Ri Chol Man

updated June 26, 2017

Ri Chol Man (Ri Ch’o’l-man) is director of the Workers’ Party of Korea [WPK] Agriculture Department and Member of the WPK Central Committee.  Ri is also a deputy (delegate) to the Supreme People’s Assembly.  He is a member of the Third Generation of the DPRK’s leadership.

Ri’s career has primarily been spent in the DPRK’s agricultural sector, primarily as a government official in the rural management system.  His first significant position was his appointment as Vice Chairman of the North P’yo’ngan Provincial Rural Economy Committee in early 2005.  He was elected a deputy (delegate) to the Supreme People’s Assembly in March 2009.  Ri was elevated to Chairman of the North P’yo’ngan Rural Economy Committee in July 2010.

During the 5th session of the 12th Supreme People’s Assembly on April 13, 2012, Ri Chol Man was appointed DPRK Vice Premier.  Ri was part of a group of the DPRK central leadership he visited the Cambodian Embassy during October 2012 to express condolences on the death Norodom Sihanouk.  During the 6th session of the 12th Supreme People’s Assmbly on April 1, 2013, Ri was appointed Minister of Agriculture concurrent to his position as DPRK Vice Premier.  Ri ‘s appointment occurred along with over a half dozen chnages to the DPRK Cabinet.

Among the policy and development initiatives to which Ri Chol Man was linked was the continued development of the Sep’o stockbreeding zone in Kangwo’n Province.  Ri was also a member of DPRK Premier Pak Pong Ju’s travel party during the Premier’s insepction tours and consultative meetings at cooperative farms and agricultural machine production units.

Ri addressed plenary meetings (plenums) of the DPRK Cabinet, held between 2012 and 2015 and was the primary reporter and discussant at the Cabinet plenary meeting held on December 28, 2013 which focused on agriculture.  Ri was re-elected to the Supreme People’s Assembly in March 2014.  He was reappointed as concurrent DPRK Vice Premier and Minister of Agriculture at the first session of the 13th Supreme People’s Assembly on April 9, 2014.

During the 7th Congress of the WPK (7th Party Congress), Ri Chol Man was elected a member of the WPK Central Committee.  He migrated from the DPRK Cabinet and was appointed director of the WPK Agriculture Department.  In this position he attended one of Kim Jong Un’s first observed on-site visits following the 7th Party Congress.

According to ROK records, Ri Chol Man was born in 1968.

 

Ri Chol Man

Director, WPK Agriculture Department

Member, WPK Central Committee

Deputy, Supreme People’s Assembly

2005: Vice Chairman, North P’yo’ngan Rural Economy Committee

2009: Elected, deputy, 12th Supreme People’s Assembly

2010: Chairman, North P’yo’ngan Rural Economy Committee

2012: (April) Appointed, DPRK Vice Premier

2013: (April) Appointed, Minister of Agriculture

2014: (March) Elected, deputy, 13th Supreme People’s Assembly

(April) Appointed, DPRK Vice Premier and Minister of Agriculture

2015: (November) Member, Ri Ul Sol Funeral Committee

(December) Member, Kim Yang Gon Funeral Committee

2016: (May) Elected, Member, 7th WPK Central Committee

Appointed, Director, WPK Agriculture Department

(May), Member, Kang Sok Ju Funeral Committee

Interview data acquired by Michael Madden, 2016; “Fifth Session of the 12th SPA Held on 13 April,” Korean Central News Agency, April 13, 2012; “Wreaths Sent to Cambodian Embassy,” Korean Central News Agency, October 16, 2012; “Sep’o Tableland to Turn Into Comprehensive Stockbreeding Base,” Korean Central News Agency, December 4, 2012; “N. Korea’s Parliament Reshuffles Cabinet; Economic Expert Named as New Cabinet Premier,” Yonhap News Agency, April 2, 2013;  “7th Session of 12th SPA Held with Kim Jong Un Presence,” Korean Central Broadasting Station, April 1, 2013; “Let Us Thoroughly Implement the Party’s Line on Simultaneously Pushing Economic Construction and the Building of a Nuclear Armed Force: An expanded plenary meeting of the Cabinet was held,”  Minju Joson (in Korean), April 21, 2013; “Anniversary of Local Budget System Marked,” Korean Central News Agency, November 6, 2013; “Cabinet Plenum Expanded Meeting Held,” Minju Joson (in Korean), December 28, 2013; “KPA Service Personnel Meet,” Korean Central News Agency, July 24, 2013; “Report of the Central Election Committee on the Election Results of deputies to the 13th Supreme People’s Assembly,” Korean Central News Agency (in Korean), March 11, 2014; “State Funeral Committee  for Ri Ul Sol,” Rodong Sinmun (in Korean), November 9, 2015; “State Funeral Committee for Kim Yang Gon,” Rodong Sinmun (in Korean), December 30, 2015; “Fourth and Final Day of the 7th Party Congress,” NK Leadership Watch, May 10, 2016; “WPK Central Committee and WPK Central Auditing Commission Meet,” NK Leadership Watch, May 10, 2016; “State Funeral Committee for Kang Sok Ju,” Rodong Sinmun (in Korean), May 21, 2016