North Korea military head Ri Yong-ho 'relieved of post'

The departure of Ri Yong-ho (L) is being scrutinised for clues about Kim Jong-un's leadership style

North Korean military chief Ri Yong-ho has been removed from all official posts, according to state media.

As well as being head of the army, he was vice-chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission and held top posts in the ruling Workers' Party.

In a short statement, the party said Mr Ri had been removed from his posts "because of illness".

The BBC's Seoul correspondent Lucy Williamson says there is widespread scepticism about that explanation.

In Seoul, a spokesman for the Unification Ministry told reporters that the move was "very unusual".

"It's quite a rare case that the North promptly and publicly announced early this morning the outcome of a meeting yesterday, on 15 July. We will keep monitoring closely," Kim Hyung-suk said.

I wonder what is it exactly. Not sure it is about an illness. Everything happening in NK is always suspicious.

BBC

Well it''s the Stalinist purge all over again

The purge of the Red Army was claimed to be supported by Nazi-forged documents (said to have been correspondence between Marshal Tukhachevsky and members of the German high command).[28] The claim is unsupported by facts, as by the time the documents were supposedly created, two people from the eight in the Tukhachevsky group were already imprisoned, and by the time the document was said to reach Stalin the purging process was already underway. However the actual evidence introduced at trial was obtained from forced confessions.[29] The purge of the army removed three of five marshals (then equivalent to six-star generals), 13 of 15 army commanders (then equivalent to four- and five-star generals), eight of nine admirals (the purge fell heavily on the Navy, who were suspected of exploiting their opportunities for foreign contacts),[30] 50 of 57 army corps commanders, 154 out of 186 division commanders, 16 of 16 army commissars, and 25 of 28 army corps commissars.[31]

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by samsamm9


The military in N. Korea is not in love with Baby Kim. Might have been a rumor of ill will towards Baby Kim progressing to something more permanent. I doubt we'll hear anymore about him now.

Des

Originally posted by samsamm9
In a short statement, the party said Mr Ri had been removed from his posts "because of illness".

The BBC's Seoul correspondent Lucy Williamson says there is widespread scepticism about that explanation.

In Seoul, a spokesman for the Unification Ministry told reporters that the move was "very unusual".

Why is it so difficult to believe that the guy was relieved of his post due to illness? He looks quite old to me. I doubt that Kim Jong-eun has any power, other than symbolic. He is very young and in-experienced.

I think people are reading too much into this.

reply to post by deessell


Yes, you could be right, who knows.
But he didn't look that old, to me anyway.

Ri Yong Ho was Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and DPRK representative to the Six Party Talks. He is also an alternate (candidate) member of the Korean Workers’ Party Central Committee (CC KWP) and a 3rd generation DPRK elite. Ri is a protégé of Kang Sok Ju. For nearly 20 years has been one of the central diplomatic managers of the country’s relations with the US, UN and the ROK.

Ri Yong Ho was born in 1954. He is the son of Ri Myong Je, a former KCNA editor who has served as a deputy director of Kim Jong Il’s Personal Secretariat. Ri Yong Ho attended Namsan Senior Middle School and studied English at Pyongyang University of Foreign Language.
nkleadershipwatch.wordpress.com...

North Korea doesn't have medicine.

It wouldn't take much to make a man unable to function since they don't have medicine. Probably hard for the west to rationalize....but there are places on Earth where you can't even get Tylenol.

reply to post by Pervius


They recently dropped the ban on foods such as pizza and hamburgers. Soon they will have McDonalds fastfood and Pizza Hut delivery. Its only a matter of time before big pharma moves in.

reply to post by BIGPoJo


Call me naive (?) but I think that Lil Kim has slowly gotten the wheels rolling as far as modernizing NK.

We'll have to see how it plays out.

reply to post by The Sword


Agreed. I may be lamp-blasted for this but I believe that the people of North Korea are a great people but they have been mislead in the past. Hopefully, their new leader will usher in a age of reason. The recent relief of Ri Yong-ho is a good sign in my opinion.

Just a little update of the situation.

Pyongyang Repositions Military

SEOUL—North Korea elevated a little-known general to the rank of vice marshal—the top title of the senior military official ousted Monday—as diplomats and analysts puzzled over the biggest shake-up in the regime since Kim Jong Eun took power after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, in December.

Military figures in recent years have taken a huge number of positions in the ruling Worker's Party, and when Kim Jong Il died they held more posts than at any previous point in his 17-year reign. But the ouster Monday of Ri Yong Ho, coming after three civilians were put in military positions and two military leaders were removed in April, appears to signal a reversal of that trend, some analysts said.

"I think the tide has turned," said Aidan Foster-Carter, a North Korea watcher at Leeds University in England. "Under Kim Jong Il, possibly because his own military credentials weren't so strong, the military rose significantly. But Kim Jong Eun's arrival has been managed by the political party."

Others cautioned that it is too early to know precisely why Mr. Ri, a longtime confidante of the Kim family, lost his job—though most outsiders doubt the official explanation that he was ill. They note Mr. Ri appeared healthy in recent pictures, frequently at Kim Jong Eun's side.

LINK