Name   Won Tong-gu Sex   Male Date of Birth   February 25, 1926 Place of Birth   Jongpyong, South Hamkyong Province Posts Held Senior secretary and cadre of the Korean Workers’ Party, member of the 10th and 11th Supreme People’s Assemblies Claim to Fame Technocrat Education Moscow State University Profile Won Dong-gu is a conservative technocrat with experience in the chemical and metal industries. His loyalty to supreme leader Kim Jong-il is reportedly rock solid but Won’s carelessness with words has drawn criticism. Won took over the chemical industry bureau of the Heavy Industries Ministry in 1956 and became vice chairman of the Heavy Industry Committee in 1962. Three years later, he was named chemical industry minister and in 1977 was promoted from deputy chief to chief of the chemical industry bureau of the State Administration Council. In 1980, he was made a cadre by the Central Committee of the Korean Workers’ Party. From 1990 to 1992, he was on the Standing Committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly. In 1991, he was named head of the National Front for Democratic Reunification and chairman of a committee for promoting friendship with Libya. A similar post followed in a committee on ties with Palestine in 1992, and in the same year, he took over the council’s labor group bureau. In 2001, he was named a senior party secretary. Rumors say Won is daring and broadminded, but is suspected of murky money dealings.

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