Kwak Pom-gi (; born 20 November 1939) is a North Korean government official. After graduating from Huichon Industrial College, he began his career in 1983 as a

machine factory A machine factory is a company that produces machines. These companies traditionally belong to the heavy industry sector in comparison to a more consumer oriented and less capital intensive light industry. Today many companies make more sophistica ...

manager, progressing through the machinery bureau of the

Workers' Party of Korea The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), also called the Korean Workers' Party (KWP), is the sole ruling party of North Korea. Founded in 1949 from a merger between the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party of South Korea, the WPK is ...

, becoming an alternate member of the party's 6th Central Committee in 1993. He has been

Vice Premier of North Korea The Vice Premier of the Cabinet assists the Premier of North Korea in guiding the work of the Cabinet of North Korea. The office is also alternatively known as Deputy Prime Minister of North Korea. Current vice premiers List of vice premiers ...

from 1998 to 2010, and is a member of the Secretariat of the

. He is described as a "technocrat" in the North Korean leadership. In October 2003, Kwak gave a speech celebrating the Ryugyong Jong Ju Yong Indoor Stadium at the Mansudae Art Theatre, which is an indoor stadium built on the bank of the River Potong. In August 2006, Kwak, with Russian Ambassador

Andrei Karlov Andrei Gennadyevich Karlov (; 4 February 1954 – 19 December 2016) was a Russian diplomat who served as the List of ambassadors of Russia to Turkey, Russian ambassador to Turkey and earlier as the Russian Russian Ambassador to North Korea, amb ...

, was at the opening of the first Russian Orthodox Church in Pyongyang, North Korea. The church was opened to improve the development of Russian–North Korean relations according to Korean Orthodox Church Committee Chairman Ho Il Jin. The North Korean government would "successfully administer" the church, which was built to hold 500 people. On 6 January 2007, at a mass rally in

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

which included

Kim Jong Il Kim Jong Il (born Yuri Kim; 16 February 1941 or 1942 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader of North Korea from Death and state funeral of Kim Il Sung, the de ...

, he gave a speech praising the North Korean government for building nuclear weapons. He also addressed the country's "problem of food scarcity" in 2007, saying, "The Cabinet will concentrate state efforts on agriculture this year, too, considering it a mainstay, to thoroughly implement the WPK's policy of agriculture revolution and make a signal advance in the efforts to settle the people's food problem." He served as WPK South Hamgyong provincial secretary from 2010, where he led an effort to develop local industry which was celebrated as "flames of Hamnam". Likely as a result of this, he was elevated to

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

alternate member and director of the Party Finance and Accounting Department in April 2012, and chairman of the

Supreme People's Assembly The Supreme People's Assembly (SPA; ) is the legislature of North Korea. It is ostensibly the highest organ of state power and the only branch of government in North Korea, with all state organs subservient to it under the principle of unified ...

Budget Committee in September of the same year. He has been speculated as the head of the new Party Economy Department, reportedly established in June 2013.

References

External links

North Korea Leadership Watch - Pak Pom GiNorth Korean Economy Watch: DPRK joint editorial 2007: Usher In a Great Heyday of Songun Korea Full of Confidence in Victory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwak, Pom-gi Living people Korean communists 1939 births Members of the Supreme People's Assembly People from Riwon County Alternate members of the 6th Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea Members of the 6th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea Vice premiers of North Korea Vice Chairmen of the Workers' Party of Korea and its predecessors