[2] As of January 2023[update], the Director of the General Political Bureau is Jong Kyong-thaek, who succeeded Kwon Yong-jin.
During Kim Jong Il's Songun (military first) era in particular, the GPB remained relatively independent and unchanged for decades.
Consequentially, in 2017 the party Central Committee was ordered to carry out an inspection of the GPB, the first of its kind in 20 years.
[3] The 8th WPK Congress held in 2021 also oversaw the demotion of the GPB, no longer being equal to the Central Committee.
Some of GPB's functions were also transferred to the newly established Military-Political Leadership Department of the WPK CC.