Ri Hong-sop and Hong Sung-mu: the two scientists who run North Korea's nuclear program and are treated as heroes by Kim Jung-a

Share this update on Facebook Share this update on Twitter Share this update on Messenger Share this update on Email Share. Ri Hong-sop (2nd left) and Hong Sung-mu, and (der). Ri Hong-sop (second from left) is head of the Nuclear Weapons Institute and Hong Sung-mu (right) is deputy director of the Department of Ammunition Industry of the Workers' Party. When North Korea announced in September that it had "successfully completed" its sixth nuclear test with "a hydrogen bomb", experts agreed that this was the largest and most powerful nuclear test in the country.
There seems to be little doubt now that Pyongyang has succeeded in developing a nuclear weapon.
As Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, said in September: "Despite our efforts over the past 24 years, North Korea's nuclear program is more advanced and more dangerous than ever."
6 keys to understanding the unprecedented statement by the North Korean leader and his threat to launch a hydrogen bomb on the Pacific.

"Now they are firing missiles into Japan's airspace, now they have capabilities for an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile), now they claim to have tested a hydrogen bomb," he added. US Ambassador Nikki Haley told the UN Security Council that her country does not want the war with North Korea. What many wonder is how the Asian country, despite its isolation and international efforts to keep arms technology out of reach, has managed to advance so much in its nuclear race.
The answer lies in two men who have played an essential role in the North Korean nuclear program: Ri Hong-sop, head of the Nuclear Weapons Institute, and Hong Sung-mu, deputy director of the Department of Ammunition Industry of the Workers' Party .

They are in charge of fulfilling Kim Jong-un's nuclear ambitions. "They are two men with enormous power and influence and represent all North Korean nuclear scientists," Michael Madden, a visiting researcher at the Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University and founder of the North Korea Leadership Watch website, told BBC World.

Since the sixth nuclear test in September, the official North Korean news agency has been posting photos of Kim Jong-un with his nuclear scientists. It is known that Ri and Hung were students of So Sang-kuk, the so-called "father of North Korean nuclear physics". "He was a close adviser to Kim Jong-il, the father of Kim Jong-un, a kind of guardian on nuclear weapons, and he was also in charge of recruiting experts and staff for the fabrication of a nuclear bomb."expert.

Nuclear research. After beginning in nuclear energy research, both scientists became involved in the development of North Korean nuclear weapons. The two were senior officials at the Yongbyon Nuclear Science Research Center, which reports to the National Atomic Energy Ministry.
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Hong, who was born in 1942, had been chief engineer at the Center and Ri, born in 1940, was director of the organization.

They are believed to have played a key role in uraniodurant enrichment programs in the 1990s and 2000s, which were prohibited under the International Atomic Energy Agency's international agreements. The photographs, published by the official KCNA agency in September, show details of what was said to be a hydrogen bomb. Later both scientists migrated towards a huge department within the Workers Party called the Department of the Ammunition Industry.

Priority
As Michael Madden points out, in March 2013 Kim Jong-un made clear his nuclear ambitions when he adopted, during a party meeting, "a new strategic line" for the development of its nuclear armed forces.

"This emphasis resulted in a reorganization of the Workers' Party to strengthen the control of all weapons of mass destruction and space-related activities previously under the supervision of various organizations," Madden told BBC World. These activities were then consolidated under a single group: the Department of the Ammunition Industry. within the Labor Party.

Blacklist
According to a United Nations report published in 2009, Ri Hong-sop "supervised (in Yongbyon) three key facilities that aided the production of plutonium for nuclear weapons: the Fuel Manufacturing Facility, the Nuclear Reactor and the Reprocessing Plant" .
That year, both Ri and Hong Sung-mu were blacklisted by the United Nations Security Council "for their work on North Korean nuclear programs." Ri "is committed and offers support in programs related to nuclear development, ballistic missiles and other weapons of mass destruction, which includes illegal activities," said the UN.

And Hong Sung-mu, said the organization, has played "a key role in the nuclear program of his country." The organization recommended that both scientists be sanctioned. 6 keys to understanding how North Korea became a "pariah nation". Ri Hong-sop (left) and Hong Sung Mu (der) with King Jong-un. Author rights of the "During the 1970s and 1980s, many of the North Korean scientists benefited from the educational exchange agreements that existed with the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact countries, and China," explains Michael Madden.

Today such agreements no longer exist, and under international sanctions imposed by the UN, other countries are prohibited from offering "specialized training or education" that could contribute to Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development.

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Reports have emerged, however, that several North Korean scientists continue to study abroad, mainly in China. Kim Jong-un and his wife, Ri Sol-JuDerechos de imagenAFP / GETTY
Image caption. September Kim Jong-un and his wife, Ri Sol-ju organized several celebrations for North Korea's nuclear scientists.

According to the Wall Street Journal, a study of academic databases conducted by Hallym University in South Korea found that "60% of North Korean scientists' research published in foreign trade journals from 2011 to 2016 made in China, mainly in physics, engineering, mathematics, metallurgy and materials science. "

The fact is that both Hung and Ri have benefited from the knowledge inherited by the Soviet Union as well as the conferences and seminars abroad that they attended before the sanctions.
Kim Jong-un reading his statement on September 22, 2017. Author of the imageREUTERS / KCNA
Image caption. In September, Kim Jong-un said he considered "a response at the highest level" against Donald Trump: "I will tame the old mentally deranged old American senile with fire," he said.
"Competent"

Siegfried Hecker, a professor of nuclear science at Stanford University, California, is one of the few Western scientists to have been at North Korea's nuclear facilities. Hecker met Ri Hong-sop during several visits between 2004 and 2010 to the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center, when Ri was director.

"I was impressed with his technical competence and his honest and direct answers to my questions during the visit, which gave our Stanford team extraordinary access to Yongbyon's plutonium facilities," Hecker said in an interview with The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (Bulletin of Atomic Scientists). "In a fascinating exchange on the complexities of plutonium metallurgy, it even allowed me to hold a sample of freshly produced plutonium - in a sealed vessel - to convince me that it was actually plutonium," he adds.

Hecker met several times with Ri Hong-sop during his seven visits to North Korea.
"But when I asked for him during my last visit in November 2010, my host told me with some sarcasm that my government would not allow me to see it because the last UN sanctions had blacklisted him," Hecker said.

Decorated
While the international community vilified Ri and Hung, in their own country they were considered heroes. Kim Jong-un held a concert in honor of nuclear scientists for his "success" in testing a "hydrogen bomb." In January 2016, both scientists were the first to receive a Kim Jong-un medal for their "success" in what was then their fourth nuclear test. And after "the resounding success" of the sixth test, last September, Kim Jong-un decorated the scientists and their teams with a series of official events, which included a banquet with an artistic performance and a concert.