Kim Jong-un appoints official ‘rumoured to have been executed’ as North Korea’s top military general

Kim Jong-un made the announcement in which other ‘leading commanding officers’ were dismissed

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un has fired his top military general and replaced him with his former defence minister, an official who was once believed to have been executed.

The country’s top general, chief of the general staff Pak Su Il, was “dismissed” after serving in his role for about seven months, state media KCNA reported, without elaborating the reason for the military shake-up.

He was replaced by former defence minister General Ri Yong Gil in the North Korean military on 31 December.

Mr Kim made the announcement at the Central Military Commission meeting in which other “leading commanding officers” were dismissed, transferred or appointed. He also ordered the army to “gird for a war” as the US and South Korea prepare for a large-scale military exercise.

Mr Ri, who previously served as the army chief of staff, was replaced in 2016 and was rumoured to be executed after his absence from official events.

“Ri Yong Gil is a longstanding member of North Korea’s military elite, who before making it to the top, experienced ups and downs during his career. Seven years ago, he was even rumoured to have been executed after a personnel reshuffle,” said Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

He said Mr Kim does not want anyone to become too powerful to challenge him, taking lessons from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, amid which the Wagner Group founder led a brief rebellion against Vladimir Putin.

The reorganisation of the military leadership was briefly mentioned towards the conclusion of the report by the state-run mouthpiece KCNA. The report primarily focused on the “significant matter” of enhancing the army’s preparedness for war, citing political and military circumstances in the Korean peninsula.

Without mentioning the US and South Korea directly, Mr Kim said the meeting “analysed the military moves of the chief culprits of deteriorated situation” on the peninsula and condemned the Western allies of expanding drills as invasion rehearsals.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends the 7th enlarged meeting of the 8th Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea (via REUTERS)

He said the preparations included the testing-firings of more than 100 missiles since the start of 2022, driving tensions on the Korean peninsula to their highest point in years.

“Making full war preparations” was the topmost agenda on the list of the meeting, the KCNA report said.

“The present situation, in which the hostile forces are getting ever more undisguised in their reckless military confrontation with the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] requires the latter’s army to have more positive, proactive and overwhelming will and thoroughgoing and perfect military readiness for a war,” it said.

After the meeting on Wednesday, Mr Kim signed an order to implement unspecified “important military measures,” the KCNA report said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (centre) attending the 7th enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) in Pyongyang, North Korea, 09 August 2023 (EPA)

Pictures of the meeting published by state media showed Mr Kim directing the general’s attention to points on a blurred map of the Korean peninsula.

The areas appeared to be the metropolitan region surrounding South Korean capital Seoul, where half of the country’s 51 million people live, and an area around the central city of Daejeon, the location of South Korea’s army headquarters.

It comes after Mr Kim last week went on a three-day tour of the country’s key weapons factories, including a facility that produces launcher trucks for his intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to target the US mainland, and called for significant improvements to the country’s arms and war readiness.

Amid soaring tensions in the region, North Korea will draw attention to its militia parade on 9 September to mark the 75^th anniversary of the Day of the Foundation of the Republic.

It will be followed by the US and South Korea joint military drills between 21 August and 24 August.