Ri Mu Yong
February 27, 2018
Ri Mu Yong (Ri Mu-yo’ng) is DPRK Vice Premier and former Minister of Chemical Industry.
Ri’s formative career was spent as a technical manager in DPRK chemical factories. He was elected a delegate (deputy) to the 10th Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) in July 1998. He addressed the second session of the 10th SPA in April 1999. In November 2000, Ri was part of a delegation that visited a gas plant in Germany.
From the late 1990s until 2003 he served as the manager of the Namhu’ng Youth Chemcial Complex (also known as the Namhu’ng Youth Petrochemical Plant) in Anju, South P’yo’ngan Province. He was
elected a deputy to the 11th SPA in August 2003. At the first session of the 11th SPA, Ri was appointed Minister of Chemical Industry, replacing Pak Pong Ju (Pak Pong-chu) who was elevated to his first
tenure (2003-2007) as DPRK Premier.
Ri Mu Yong spoke at a January 2006 national meeting of agricultural workers. He was elected a deputy to the 12th SPA in March 2009 and retained as Minister of Chemical Industry when the 12th SPA met that April. Also during April 2009 he delivered an speech inaugurating the Wo’nsan Chemical Plant’s sealing workshop.
Ri was elected a full member of the WPK Central Committee during the 3rd Party Conference on September 28, 2010. In May 2011 he greeted late DPRK leader Kim Jong Il (Kim Cho’ng-il) on his on-site visit to the Namhu’ng Youth Chemcial Complex and during the same month was appointed DPRK Vice Premier, concurrent to serving as Minister of Chemical Industry.
In March 2013, Ri Mu Yong contributed an op-ed to Minju Joson as a response to Kim Jong Un’s (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) speech to the national meeting of light industrial workers. Ri wrote that “We will concentrate our energy on the chemical industrial sector, which has a large share in realizing the localization of the raw materials and materials of light industry, and smoothly produce and guarantee
textiles, resins, and various kinds of basic chemical products of good quality. We will both stir up a strong wind in the factories and enterprises of the light industrial sector to raise the quality of the consumer goods and produce the necessary articles that are given a favorable reception by the people and the products that symbolize their units and bear comparison even when they are put on the foreign
market.” Ri delievered the opening speech at the State Industrial Art Exhibition also participated in the debates and discussions at a plenary meeting of the DPRK Cabinet, both during April 2013.
Ri spoke to the national meeting of agricultural sub-workteam leaders in February 2014. He was elected a deputy to the 13th SPA in March 2014 and retained as DPRK Vice Premier and Minister of Chemical
Industry during the first session of the 13th SPA in April 2014.
In May 2016, Ri was elected a member of the WPK Central Committee during the 7th Party Congress. He spoke at the fourth session of the 13th SPA on June 29, 2016. Ri attended and briefed Kim Jong Un during his on-site visit to the Sunch’o’n Chemical Complex in August 2016.
Ri Mu Yong was removed from office as Minister of Chemical Industry during the 5th session of the 13th Supreme People’s Assembly on April 11, 2017.
Ri Mu Yong was born on April 8, 1948.
Ri Mu Yong
DPRK Vice Premier
Member, WPK Central Committee
Deputy, 13th Supreme People’s Assembly
1998: (July) Elected, Deputy, 10th Supreme People’s Assembly
2002: (September) Manager, Namhu’ng Youth Chemical Complex
2003: (August): Elected, Deputy, 11th Supreme People’s Assembly
(September) Appointed, Minister of Chemical Industry
2009: (March) Elected, Deputy, 12th Supreme People’s Assembly
(April) Retained, Minister of Chemical Industry
2010: (September) Elected, Member, 6th WPK Central Committee
(November) Member, Jo Myong Rok Funeral Committee
2011: (May) Appointed, DPRK Vice Premier
(December) Member, Kim Jong Il Funeral Committee
2014: (March) Elected, Deputy, 13th Supreme People’s Assembly
(April) Retained, DPRK Vice Premier and Minister of Chemical Industry
2015: (November) Member, Ri Ul Sol Funeral Committee
(December) Member, Kim Yang Gon Funeral Committee
2016: (May) Elected, Member, 7th WPK Central Committee
(May) Member, Kang Sok Ju Funeral Committee
2017: (April) Removed as Minister of Chemical Industry
Compiled from DPRK and ROK open sources; “Report of the Central Election Committee on the Results of the elections of deputies for the 11th Supreme People’s Assembly,” Korean Central Broadcasting Station (in Korean), August 5, 2003; “Members of DPRK Cabinet Appointed,” Korean Central News Agency, September 4, 2003; “Report of the Central Election Committee on the Election Results of deputies to the 12th Supreme People’s Assembly,” Korean Central Broadcasting Station (in Korean), March 9, 2009; “Fertilizer Production Process Goes Operational,” Korean Central News Agency, April 29, 2010; “Members, Alternate Members of WPK CC,” Korean Central News Agency, September
28, 2010; “New Vice Premier Appointed,” Korean Central News Agency, May 31, 2011; “Start Industrial Art Exhibition Closes,” Korean Central News Agency, September 12, 2012; “Immortal Guidelines Brilliantly Indicating the Path Toward Light Industry–We Will Concentrate Firepower on Primary Assault Target” by Ri Mu-yo’ng [Ri Mu Yong], Minju Joson (in Korean), March 20, 2013; “State Industrial Art Exhibition Opens,” April 10, 2013; “Let Us Thoroughly Implement the Party’s Line on Simultaneously Pushing Forward Economic Construction and the Building of a Nuclear Armed Force–An Expanded Meeting of the Cabinet Plenum was Held,” Minju Joson (in Korean), April 21, 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; “Kim Jong Un Visits Sunch’o’n Chemical Complex,” NK Leadership Watch, August 2016; “The Presidium Shuffle” by Michael Madden, 38 North, April 28, 2017
