Choe Ryong-hae Net Worth

Background and career

Choe Ryong-hae (Korean: 최룡해; born 15 January 1955) is a North Korean politician and military officer who served as the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly and First Vice President of the State Affairs Commission, holding both positions from April 2019 to March 2026.

Born in 1950 to prominent North Korean guerilla Choe Hyon, Choe joined the Korean People's Army in 1967. His political career began in the 1970s, when he worked as a political instructor on behalf of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) at Kim Il Sung University. He rose in the politics of the League of Socialist Working Youth of Korea; when it was reformed into the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League in 1996, he was appointed its first secretary. In 1998, he faced execution for selling scrap metal to foreign buyers without official permission, but survived after North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's sister Kim Kyong-hui intervened to save his life.

Choe later became the deputy director of the General Affairs Department, then chief secretary of the Hwanghae Province Party Committee from 2006 to 2010. In 2010, he became a KPA General as well as member of the WPK Secretariat and Central Military Commission, and Politburo alternate member. In 2012, after Kim Jong Un became leader, he became Vice Marshal, member of the Presidium of the Politburo of the WPK, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, director of the KPA General Political Bureau and member of the National Defence Commission. He briefly served as the NDC Vice Chairman in 2014, but was demoted, and briefly lost his Politburo Presidium membership.

From 2016 to 2021, he served as a Vice Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea. In 2017, Choe was appointed to the party's Central Military Commission. He was also appointed the director of the Organization and Guidance Department (OGD). In April 2019, he became the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly and the First Vice President of the State Affairs Commission. During this period, he also served as Kim Jong Un's military second-in-command, being third top-ranking official in North Korea after Kim Jong Un and Premier Pak Thae-song. On 22 March 2026, he was succeeded by Jo Yong-won as the SPA Standing Committee Chairman.