Editing Korean People's Army (section)

==== History ====
{{more citations needed section|date=May 2023}}
Since 1990, numerous and dramatic transformations within North Korea have led to the current command and control structure. The details of the majority of these changes are simply unknown to the world. What little is known indicates that many changes were the natural result of the deaths of the aging leadership including [[Kim Il Sung]] (July 1994), Minister of People's Armed Forces [[O Jin-u]] (February 1995) and Minister of Defence [[Choe Kwang]] (February 1997).

The vast majority of changes were undertaken to secure the power and position of [[Kim Jong Il]]. Formerly, what is now the [[State Affairs Commission]] - formerly the [[National Defence Commission]] - was part of the {{ill|Central People's Committee|ja|中央人民委員会}} (CPC) while the [[Ministry of Defence (North Korea)|Ministry of Defence]], from 1982 onward, was under direct presidential control. At the Eighteenth session of the sixth Central People's Committee, held on 23 May 1990, the SAC became established as its own independent commission, rising to the same status as the CPC (now the [[Cabinet of North Korea]]) and not subordinated to it, as was the case before. Concurrent with this, Kim Jong Il was appointed first vice-chairman of the National Defence Commission. The following year, on 24 December 1991, Kim Jong Il was appointed [[Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army]]. Four months later, on 20 April 1992, Kim Jong Il was awarded the rank of [[Wonsu|Marshal]] and his father, in virtue of being the KPA's founding commander in chief, became [[Taewonsu|Grand Marshal]] as a result and one year later he became the chairman of the National Defence Commission, by now under [[Supreme People's Assembly]] control under the then 1992 constitution as amended.

Within the KPA, between December 1991 and December 1995, nearly 800 high officers (out of approximately 1,200) received promotions and preferential assignments. Three days after Kim Jong Il became Marshal, eight generals were appointed to the rank of Vice-Marshal. In April 1997, on the 85th anniversary of [[Day of the Sun|Kim Il Sung's birthday]], Kim Jong Il promoted 127 general and admiral grade officers. The following April he ordered the promotions of another 22 generals and flag officers. Along with these changes, many KPA officers were appointed to influential positions within the WPK. These promotions continue today, simultaneous with the celebration of Kim Il Sung's birthday and the KPA anniversary celebrations every April and since recently in July to honour the end of the Korean War. Under Kim Jong Il's leadership, political officers dispatched from the party monitored every move of a general's daily life, according to analysts<ref name="nytimes.com"/> similar to the work of Soviet [[political commissar]]s during the early and middle years of the military establishment.

Under Kim Jong Il, the KPA effectively exercised full control of both the [[Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea|Politburo]] and the CMC, the KPA General Political and General Staff Departments and the [[Ministry of Defence (North Korea)|Ministry of Defence]], all having KPA representatives with a minimum general officer rank. During this period the primary path for command and control of the KPA extended through the [[National Defence Commission]] which was led by its chairman [[Kim Jong Il]] until 2011, to the Ministry of Defence and its General Staff Department.<ref>[http://merln.ndu.edu/merln/mipal/reports/NorthKoreaPrimer03Nov05.doc United States Department of Defense Virtual Information Center, ''North Korea Primer''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927152211/http://merln.ndu.edu/merln/mipal/reports/NorthKoreaPrimer03Nov05.doc|date=27 September 2011}} accessed 27 June 2011.</ref> From there on, command and control flowed to the various bureaus and operational units. A secondary path, to ensure political control of the military establishment, extended through the CMC. The party's power was diluted; the CMC was stripped of its authority to command the KPA in 2010. The KPA party committee outranked provincial party committees, while KPA's [[General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army|General Political Bureau]] (GPB) had equal status to the WPK Central Committee.<ref name=":6" />

The organization of the KPA leadership was reformed again under [[Kim Jong Un]]. The [[Supreme People's Assembly]] (SPA) amended the [[Constitution of North Korea|constitution]] in June 2016, abolishing the National Defence Commission (NDC) except in times of war, and replacing it with the [[State Affairs Commission of North Korea|State Affairs Commission]] (SAC), which was named the "supreme policy-oriented leadership body of State power". Kim became the [[President of the State Affairs of North Korea|chairman of the State Affairs Commission]] on 29 June 2016. These amendments marked the decrease of the military's influence, with the newly established SAC including more civilian and less military members than the NDC.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |last=Aoki |first=Naoko |date=21 December 2021 |title=A Decade of the Kim Jong Un Doctrine |work=[[Foreign Policy]] |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/12/21/north-korea-kim-jong-un-doctrine-decade-10-years/ |access-date=25 June 2023 |archive-date=25 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230625162609/https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/12/21/north-korea-kim-jong-un-doctrine-decade-10-years/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The constitution was further amended in 2019.<ref name=":4" /> The constitution now stipulated that the mission of North Korea's armed forces was to "defend unto death the Party Central Committee headed by the great Comrade Kim Jong Un". The chairman of the State Affairs Commission was named as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces as well as the "supreme representative of all the Korean people".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Josh |date=2019-08-29 |title=North Korea changes constitution to solidify Kim Jong Un's rule |language=en |work=[[Reuters]] |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-north-korea-constitution-idUSKCN1VJ1JQ |access-date=2023-06-25 |archive-date=25 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230625162609/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-north-korea-constitution-idUSKCN1VJ1JQ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[8th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea|8th WPK Congress]] held in 2021 marked the consolidation of WPK control over the army, as well as a further decrease in the army's power; the number of military delegates dropped from 719 in the 7th Congress to 408.<ref name=":6" /> Politburo members increased from 28 to 30, though incumbent military elite membership decreased from eight to six. "Military-first policy" was also removed from the charter, being replaced by "people-first politics".<ref name=":5"/> During the speech to the Congress, Kim Jong Un did not mention "army of the leader" to refer to the KPA, as it has been referred as before, instead naming it as an "army of the party", thus moving the party-army relations in the country closer to the ones typically found in other socialist states.<ref name=":6" />

The influence of the KPA Party Committee and the GPB was decreased; with the committee now ranking equal to provincial party committees. The GPB was also no longer equal to the Central Committee, while the CMC was again given effective command of the armed forces.<ref name=":6" /> The Military Affairs Department of the WPK Central Committee was abolished, with its functions being transferred to the Department of Military-Political Leadership.<ref name=":6" />