What Kim Jong Un’s Radical Elite Reshuffle at the Ninth Party Congress Means

Kim Jong Un’s sweeping leadership reshuffle at the Ninth Party Congress—including the exclusion of Choe Ryong Hae—signals tightening internal control driven by his growing fear of elite disloyalty, but it risks weakening elite confidence and eroding the very loyalty he seeks to consolidate.

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North Korea radically reshuffled its ruling Workers’ Party leadership at the Ninth Party Congress.

Including Choe Ryong Hae, Pak Jong Chon and Ri Pyong Chol, nearly 70 members of the Central Committee were replaced compared with the list from the eighth congress in 2021, marking a significant restructuring of the regime’s top leadership body.

Most notably, Choe Ryong Hae—long regarded as Kim Jong Un’s most powerful lieutenant—was excluded from the new list of Central Committee members.

Taken together, these developments reflect Kim Jong Un tightening control over an elite structure whose loyalty he no longer takes for granted.

Kim governs through personalized authority rather than institutional stability. Yet prolonged economic stagnation, recurring speculation about his health, and the unusually early elevation of his teenage daughter as successor have all contributed to uncertainty within the inner circle. Such conditions weaken elite cohesion and intensify quiet recalculations among senior officials.

This reshuffle is more than generational rotation. It is a recalibration of power at the core of the regime, driven by Kim’s growing fear that elite loyalty can no longer be assured.

Choe’s exclusion from the Central Committee now marks a far more consequential development. Membership in the committee is effectively a prerequisite for holding senior office. His omission therefore suggests not merely symbolic constraint, but the potential erosion of his institutional authority.

Choe, once seen as Kim’s strongest supporter and most powerful subordinate, appears not simply managed but structurally sidelined. This development underscores Kim’s willingness to dismantle entrenched power bases to prevent the emergence of any alternative center of influence.

This radical reshuffle may consolidate Kim’s grip in the short term. But the need for such sweeping reconfiguration also exposes a deeper reality: the very foundation of Kim Jong Un’s regime—the loyalty and cohesion of the power elite—is under growing strain.

Such a radical restructuring is likely to deepen regime uncertainty, undermining elite confidence in Kim’s leadership and weakening the very loyalty he seeks to enforce.