Jo Yong-won

Jo Yong-won (조용원, born 1957 ) is a North Korean politician and a deputy chief of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK)'s Secretariat of General Secretary Kim Jong Un. He was a vice director of the WPK Organization and Guidance Department (OGD). Jo was also a full member of the 7th Central Committee of the WPK since it was elected at the 7th Congress of the WPK in May 2016. Jo has been a member of the Presidium of the Politburo, and a secretary of the Secretariat of the WPK since it was elected at the 8th WPK Central Committee in January 2021. Jo appears to serve as the First Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea making him formally the principal day-to-day leader of the party second only to Kim Jong Un.

Jo is a confidant of the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, and accompanies him often on guidance tours, mostly in relation to economy. In 2016 he was the most frequent member of Kim's entourage.

According to NK News, Jo was "once described as a 'rising star' of DPRK politics [and] remains one of the country's most important officials." Jo is often featured in North Korean media; in 2018 his name was mentioned more often than that of any other official except Kim Jong Un.

In March 2021 in Pyongyang, Jo "sharply censured the shortcomings" of WPK city and county level cadre, calling out their "deviations of failing to properly apply our Party's people-first politics."

Sanctions and travel ban
In January 2017, the United States Department of the Treasury sanctioned Jo for his involvement in the censorship activities of the OGD. In June 2017, Jo was singled out in Annex 1 of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2356, which placed an international travel ban and asset freeze on him.