hankyoreh

new North Korean defense minister

By Kim Kyu-won and Ahn Chang-hyun, staff reporters

General Kim Kyok-sik recently replaced vice Marshal Kim Jong-gak as the North Korean defense minister, reports say. General Kim Kyok-sik is believed to have directed the 2010 artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island. With the departure of Vice Marshal Kim, the majority of the key military figures from the Kim Jeong-il era have been pushed out. This means that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has almost completed his bid to gain complete control of the military.

“Recently, Vice Marshal Kim Jong-gak was swapped out for General Kim Kyok-sik as the Minister of People’s Armed Forces. It appears that Kim Jong-un is appointing important military leaders on the basis of their loyalty,” a senior South Korean government official who deals with diplomacy, security and unification said on Nov. 29.

With Vice Marshal Kim out of the picture, all four of the leading military figures who served as honor guards for the hearse at the funeral of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il last year have either been purged or have resigned from key positions. Ri Yong-ho was replaced by General Hyun Yong-chol as Korean People’s Army Chief of General Staff. Kim Yong-chun gave up the position of Minister of People’s Armed Forces to Vice Marshal Kim Jong-gak and became the Vice Chairman of the Party instead. Meanwhile, General Kim Won-hong was appointed as Minister of State Security, while the former Vice Director, Woo Dong-cheuk, disappeared.

Kim Kyok-sik, the new Minister of People’s Armed Forces, had been raised to the important military position of the Korean People’s Army Chief of General Staff in April 2007, but after being dismissed in February 2009, he was assigned as the commander of the Fourth Army Corps, which is responsible for defending the West (Yellow) Sea. It was as corps commander that he directed the artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island, and it is believed that he was relieved of command and demoted to a lower-ranking general as a result. However, his latest rise indicates his persistent determination to survive.

The replacement of the defense minister has been widely seen as evidence that Kim Jong-un is in the final phases of consolidating control of the military. Over the past year, most high-ranking military figures, including all four of the honor guards at the hearse, have been changed, and reports show that two thirds of army corps commanders have been replaced as well.

“It appears that we are watching the army of Kim Jong-il turning into the army of Kim Jong-un,” said Chang Yong-seok, senior researcher at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University. “At the same time, Kim Jong-un seems to be taking steps to appoint new officials and demote others as part of his efforts to gain control of the army, which is still cautiously observing his administration.”

A Ministry of Unification official said, “We are seeing a generational transition in the military as Kim Jong-un looks to make his regime more stable.”

With Kim Kyok-sik, the person behind the bombing of Yeonpyeong Island, appointed as the new Minister of People’s Armed Forces, there is concern that the North Korean military is becoming even more rigid. However, this is not the view of at least one senior official in the South Korean government.

“Since the Fourth Army Corps is the part of the military that is responsible for holding the Northern Limit Line in the West Sea, whoever who is in charge there has no choice but to take a hard line. The defense minister is not a tactical position but rather an administrative position, so this is unconnected with the military taking a firmer line.”

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