Lt. Gen. Ri Pong Chun

Lt. Gen. Ri Pong Chun (2nd L) attends an October 2024 special operations forces training exercise with Kim Jong Un (Photo: KCNA).

updated 14 November 2024

Ri Pong Chun (Ri Pong-chun) is commander of the XI Army Corps (a/k/a Storm Corps).  Lt. Gen. Ri is also a member of the Workers’ Party of Korea [WPK] and deputy to the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly.

Ri was elected an alternate (candidate) member of the WPK Central Committee during the 7th Party Congress in 2016 and elected to the SPA in 2019.  He was  upgraded to full membership during the 5th plenum of the 7th Central Committee in December 2019.  He was promoted to Lieutenant General at the end of the May 2020 meeting of the WPK Central Military Commission.  Ri Pong Chun was appointed commanding officer of the XII Army Corps in Chagang Province.

Lt. Gen. Ri retained his Central Committee membership after the 8th Party Congress in 2021.  In late 2021 or early 2022 he was appointed commander XI Corps, North Korea’s largest special operations forces [SOF] and light infantry unit.