N. Korea's Kim demotes director of military's general political bureau

yonhap

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has demoted the director of the military's general political bureau in an apparent sweeping reshuffle of senior military officials following the recent warship accident.

The decision came as North Korea held an enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) on Wednesday, presided over by the North's leader, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Friday.

The commission "newly appointed six commanding officers of corps-level units, the director of the Artillery Bureau and the director of the Security Bureau and newly dispatched some political commissars," the KCNA said, without disclosing other details.

Jong Kyong-thaek, director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army (KPA), has been demoted to the rank of colonel general from general, Seoul's unification ministry said, citing photos carried by the North's state media.

Photos related to a firing contest among military artillery units held Thursday showed Jong with the lower military rank's insignia on his uniform, though he was referred to with the current title of the KPA's director in state media reports.

The director of the KPA's general political bureau is in charge of ideological education and surveillance at the armed forces.

The commission's enlarged meeting, the first such gathering in August 2023, came after a new North Korean warship partly capsized during its launch on May 21, a serious accident that Kim witnessed and slammed as an intolerable "criminal act."

North Korea said the meeting discussed ways to more firmly establish the "steel-like discipline system" of the country's armed forces organs and exercise "tight control and guidance" on the military.

At the meeting, North Korea decided on "military measures to firmly maintain the strategic and tactical superiority" and approved a series of new projects in the defense science and industry sectors, without revealing other details.

The North's meeting appears to be intended to tighten the military's discipline following the recent warship accident occurring during the launch in the northeastern port city of Chongjin.

Kim ordered the restoration of the warship to be "completed unconditionally" before a plenary meeting of the WPK's meeting set for June.

As part of an investigation into the warship accident, North Korea has detained some officials, including the vice director of the party's munitions industry department. (Yonhap)