Dr. Lankov is I think pretty much the only scholar who calls the 국가안전보위부 a “Ministry”. Everyone else considers the “부” at the end to be best translated as “department” – and for this organization to be a stand-alone body separate from the cabinet: the “State Security Department” in most older literature from back when its name was just the 국가보위부. All other North Korean government ministries are suffixed with “성” – for example the Ministry of Agriculture is the 농업성. The one exception to this – an important one in this case – is the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces which is also suffixed with “부” but is very clearly a full Ministry. Situation is complicated by the fact the prior to the 1998 Constitution the suffixing was exactly the opposite – all the ministries were suffixed with “부” but the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces was a “성” – this goofy retitling on the part of the North may be part of the source of Dr. Lankov’s “confusion” if thats what it is.

Anyway…