The entourage that accompanied Kim Jong Un on his visit to the site in 2013 contained a number of names and faces that may be unfamiliar to many Pyongyang watchers. One of them was Hong Yong Sil, vice director of the Workers' Party of Korea's Mechanical Industry Ministry. Hong Yong Sil is the key figure in day-to-day management of the country's arms and munitions production. He is also connected to the Ryongha Machinery Management Bureau (also part of the Ryongha Machinery Complex), which produces machinery and machine tools related to missile production. Based on his reported 24 appearances in North Korean state media in 2013, Hong Yong Sil is likely involved in the production of both conventional and advanced weapons.
According to a South Korean Ministry of Unification study excerpted in a July 2013 Yonhap News article, Hong appears to be in his early 50s and is part of a demographically amorphous group (cadres' ages range from 30s to 50s) of the third generation of revolutionary leadership, which could also be called the Kim Jong-un generation. He was first mentioned prominently in North Korean state media in early 2011, when he was awarded the prestigious national title of Labor Hero. As party secretary of the Unsan Tool Factory, Hong played a major role in the development of the factory. In February 2011, he accompanied the late Kim Jong-il on a tour of the factory.
