NK army chief removed from all posts
North Korea's army chief has been relieved of all his posts due to "his illness," state media announced Monday, which analysts see as the beginning of power structure changes in the country.
The removal of Ri Yong-ho was decided during a meeting on Sunday of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Worker's Party of Korea (WPK), according to the official KCNA news agency Monday.
Ri was a member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau, member of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the WPK.
The sudden fall of the top political figure has prompted concern from Seoul, which saw the adjustment as "very unusual."
"It's quite a rare case that the North promptly and publicly announced early this morning the outcome of a meeting yesterday … We will keep monitoring closely," AFP quoted Kim Hyung-suk, spokesman for the Unification Ministry, as saying.
The 70-year-old general was considered one of the seven key figures reinforcing the leadership of the country's untested leader Kim Jong-un, who took power following the death of his father Kim Jong-il.
Ri, who made army chief in 2009, also accompanied Kim Jong-un when he walked alongside the hearse during the former leader's funeral in December.
The unexpected dismissal has triggered worldwide speculation that Kim is determined to strengthen his control over the country, since Ri did not seem ill in recent appearances.
Ri was seen accompanying the 29-year-old inherited State leader to pay tribute to Kim Il-sung on the July 8 anniversary of his death in 1994.
Zhang Liangui, a professor on Korean issues at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, told the Global Times that the removal is a result of a power struggle in the country and may herald the start of more changes among high-level officials.
"Kim Jong-un has been trying to improve relations with the US and neighboring countries since he took over the leadership, but some incoherent policies in North Korea this year show that Kim holds different opinions on how to handle the country's domestic and foreign affairs," Zhang said.
Washington in February promised food aid to Pyongyang in compensation for its suspension of nuclear projects, but announced a halt to the deal in April after the nuclear-armed country launched a satellite, which was seen as a threat.
The North Korean military also swore in late April to reduce South Korea's conservative government "to ashes" in less than four minutes but without any follow-ups to the bold message.
Su Hao, director of the Asia-Pacific Research Center at China Foreign Affairs University, said the dismissal showed that the young Kim is preparing for reforms in the political and economic sphere in the country by clearing obstacles from the military power structure, so that high-level officials benefiting from the traditional army-first policy could not stop him.
Zhang said it is too early to say if North Korea has seen a stable power transition and a possibility of political turbulence in the future could not be ruled out.
"It depends on Kim Jong-un's political wisdom in establishing authority and maintaining power," Zhang noted.
Agencies contributed to this story