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By Kim Kyu-won, staff reporter
Vice Marshal Hyon Yong-chol, recently named the new chief of general staff of the North Korean military, has taken former chief of general staff Ri Yong-ho’s place in North Korea’s pecking order, just behind Choe Ryong-hae, the director of the military’s political bureau. This places Hyon fifth in North Korea‘s official hierarchy.
In a report issued on July 20 on an event celebrating Kim Jong-un’s promotion to marshal, which was held the previous day at Pyongyang Gymnasium, North Korea’s official Korea Central Television introduced Hyon after Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly Kim Yong-nam, Premier Choe Yong-rim and Choe Ryong-hae. After Hyon came People’s Armed Forces Minister Kim Jong-gak and National Defense Commission vice chairman Jang Song-taek. Hyon’s place in the order was the same as former chief of general staff Li’s had been.
As Kim Yong-nam and Choe Yong-rim are believed to lack real authority, Hyon can be seen as North Korea’s third most powerful man behind Kim Jong-un and Choe Ryong-hae.
The next question is whether Hyon will also assume Ri’s old posts as member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau and vice chairman of the Korea Workers’ Party’s (KWP) Central Military Commission.
It has been confirmed that Hyon was named the military’s chief of general staff at an event celebrating Kim Jong-un’s promotion to marshal held Wednesday at the April 25 House of Culture. This was a day after Hyon was promoted to vice marshal.
University of North Korean Studies professor Yang Mu-jin said, “I think in replacing Li, Hyon assumed not only the post of chief of general staff, but also of member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau and vice chairman of the KWP’s Central Military Commission.”
He also noted that under the Kim Jong-il system, only the director of the military’s political bureau was a member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau, but since the KWP’s third congress in 2010, both the director of the military’s political bureau and the military’s chief of general staff have been members.
North Korea’s official Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Friday that a rally celebrating KWP First Secretary Kim Jong-un’s elevation to marshal was held at Pyongyang Gymnasium on Thursday.
At the July 19 event, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly Kim Yong-nam conveyed the decision - made by the WPK Central Committee and Central Military Commission, the National Defense Commission, and the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly - to bestow upon Kim Jong-un the title of “marshal of the republic” (referring the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s formal name).
Student and youth celebrations marking Kim’s elevation were also held Thursday at the gymnasiums of Kim Il Sung University and Kim Chaek University of Technology, and Pyongyang’s Central Youth Hall.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun reported Friday that a tombstone for Kim Jong-un’s mother, Ko Young-hee, has been placed in downtown Pyongyang. According to the report from Beijing, the grave was placed near Mt. Daeseongsan in Pyongyang, and bears both a photo of Ko and the inscription, “Ko Young-hee, Mother of Songun Korea.” This is the first time the real name of Ko, who was born in Japan, has been officially released in North Korea.
　
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