North Korea replaces three top military leaders, Yonhap news agency reports

Source: The Washington Post



By Brian Murphy and Michelle Ye Hee Lee
June 4 at 1:47 AM

SEOUL — Three of North Korea’s top military officials have been replaced, a South Korean news agency reported Monday, marking an apparent shake-up in leader Kim Jong Un’s inner circle before next week’s planned summit with President Trump.

The report by the Yonhap news agency, citing an intelligence source, could not be independently verified. But, if confirmed, the moves suggest another step in Kim’s ongoing reorganization in military leadership — this time bringing in younger military overseers to replace older ranks possibly at odds with his outreach to the United States and its ally South Korea, experts said.

The officials who reportedly were dropped are from some of the highest echelons of the North’s military structure, including Ri Myong Su, the chief of general staff for the Korean People’s Army. Ri was thought to be a confidant of Kim’s father, the late leader Kim Jong Il.

The others dismissed, according to Yonhap, were defense chief Pak Yong Sik and Kim Jong Gak, director of the political bureau of the North Korean army.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/north-korea-replaces-three-top-military-leaders-yonhap-news-agency-reports/2018/06/03/086da640-6798-11e8-bf8c-f9ed2e672adf_story.html