Ri Il-hwan

Ri Il-hwan (, born 1960) is a North Korean politician and a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). He has been the Director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department (PAD) of the party since 2020.

Early life Ri Il-hwan was born in 1960 in Pyongyang. He was educated at Kim Il Sung University and the Mangyongdae Revolutionary School.

Career Ri was commander of a "Speed Campaign" for the League of Socialist Working Youth of Korea (later Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League, KISYL) in 1992. He was elected First Secretary of the Central Committee of the KISYL at the fourteenth session of its eight plenary meeting on 23–25 November 1998, succeeding Choe Ryong-hae.

He was in charge of a KISYL delegation that visited China in March 2000. During this visit, he met with President Hu Jintao on 20 March 2000. He was also tasked with South Korean president Kim Dae-jung's visit to the Mangyongdae Children's Palace. Ri supervised the construction of the Youth Hero Motorway and opened it in October 2000. He was also present at groundbreaking ceremony of a 30,000-unit housing project near the motorway on 6 April 2001. In March 2001, Ri led a KISYL delegation that visited Thailand and Laos. He was removed from office in 2002 and was sent away for "revolutionization".

In 2012, Ri became the secretary tasked with publicity and information of the Pyongyang City Committee of the WPK. He took part in numerous mass rallies and presided over various public events.

Ri was first elected to the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) in July 1998 and became a member of its Presidium in its first session in September. He was re-elected to the SPA in the 2019 election.

Ri has been awarded the title of Hero of Labor in March 2001.