North Korea’s Kim Jong Un carried out a sweeping reorganization of his leadership including military chiefs as he pledged to bolster the country’s nuclear might in the new year, Report informs via Bloomberg.
Ri Yong Gil was appointed vice chairman of the central military commission of the Workers’ Party that Kim leads, replacing Pak Jong Chon, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday.
Kang Sun Nam takes over as defense minister, replacing Ri, while Pak Su Il was appointed chief of the Korean People’s Army General Staff in a reorganization that also involved other economic and security personnel.
Pyongyang routinely revamps its leadership and the latest reorganization comes at the end of an almost week-long party conference, during which Kim said North Korea should produce even more nuclear arms to counter US and South Korean hostility.
North Korea fired off more than 70 ballistic missiles last year as Kim professed no willingness to go back to talks over his nuclear arsenal.
North Korea didn’t provide detailed reasons for the leadership changes.