Gen. Pang Tu Sop
Pang Tu Sop (left) at the October 2020 parade marking the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the WPK (Photo: KCNA).
updated 20 November 2024
Pang Tu Sop (Pang Tu-sop) is the Minister of Public Security, the DPRK’s top public safety official. He is also a Member of the Workers’ Party of Korea [WPK] Central Committee and a deputy to the Supreme People’s Assembly.
Pang’s first senior command position occurred in 2015 when he was appointed commander of the forward-deployed II Corps. He was elected member of the WPK Central Committee during the 7th Party Congress in 2016. He was promoted to General (taejang) in 2020 and appointed 1st Vice Chief of the KPA General Staff and Director of the KPA General Staff Operations Bureau. During the 8th Party Congress in 2021, he retained his Central Committee membership, but dropped from the Central Committee in 2022.
Pang Tu Sop (annotated)
Gen. Pang was appointed senior deputy director of the WPK Political Guidance of the Military Department and his Central Committee membership restored in January 2023. Pang was appointed Minister of Public Security in July 2024, after the incumbent Ri Thae Sop (Ri T’ae-sop) was summarily dismissed by Kim Jong Un due to inefficiencies in public safety and construction work in the 2024 floods of North P’yo’ngan and Chagang Provinces. In line with his position as Minister, Pang has been appointed Chairman of the SPA Legislation Committee and as of November 2024 held de facto WPK Political Bureau and WPK Central Military Commission status.
In August 2024, following his MPS appointment, Gen. Pang warned local law enforcement managers that they would be dismissed if they did not thoroughly discharge their public safety missions.
