Name   Kang Kwan-ju (aka Kang Ju-il) Sex   Male Date of Birth   July 5, 1930 Place of Birth   Daedong, South Pyongan Province Posts Held International relations director for the Central Committee of the Korean Workers’ Party, vice chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, member of the 10th and 11th Supreme People’s Assemblies Claim to Fame Expert on relations with South Korea and Japan Education Bachelor’s in history from Kim Il Sung University, Kim Il Sung Advanced School of the Korean Workers’ Party Profile Kang Jwan-ju is an expert on relations with Japan and a cadre of the Central Committee of the Korean Workers’ Party. He is the director of one of the committee’s four departments on inter-Korean relations. In the 1970s, he received on-the-job training in party bureaus on culture and international affairs. In 1973, he was named director of Mansudae Art Troupe and later joined the legislature in 1977. From 1978, he assumed a number of positions in the cultural sector such as adviser to Pyongyang Art Troupe. Through frequent visits to Japan, he has served as a link between Pyongyang and the pro-North Korea group Chochongryon in Japan. He has also supervised the collection of funds from Chochongryon and the procurement of books and movies. In 1982, Kang was named first division director of the committee’s social and cultural department that was later renamed the international relations department. Four years later, he was appointed deputy chief of the committee’s organizational bureau—a key body within the party—and gained the trust of then bureau chief Kim Jong-il. Kang is the second cousin of the late North Korean leader Kim Il-sung, and his in-laws are former Vice Premier Kim Dal-hyon and former ambassador to Russia Son Song-pil.

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