S. Korean news agency: N. Korea replaces 3 top military leaders

Apparent shake-up in Kim Jong Un’s inner circle before summit

SEOUL — Three of North Korea’s top military officials have been replaced, a South Korean news agency reported today, 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 move could suggest a far-reaching intervention by Kim to bring in younger military overseers to replace older ranks possibly at odds with his outreach to the United States and its ally South Korea.

The officials who were reportedly dropped are from some of the highest reaches 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. Plans to replace Kim Jong Gak were reported in North Korean media last month, Yonhap said.

North Korea made no immediate reference to any military changes, and it remains difficult to assess whether the shake-up could signal a significant change in North Korean policies.

It appeared to be a generational shift. The officials reportedly promoted were younger than those dismissed, according to Yonhap, including the new general staff chief, Ri Yong Gil, who at 63 is 21 years younger than the outgoing Ri.

Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies in Seoul, said the reported new military leadership brings expertise in military-run economic affairs rather than combat strategies.

This could be a sign that the North Korean leader is “pursuing a new policy to become a developing country without nuclear weapons, rather than a poor country with nuclear weapons,” he said.

“He has chosen the route of pursuing denuclearization and a peace treaty through dialogue, and is appointing a new generation of military leaders to set the tone for his vision,” Kim Yong-hyun said.