Kim Jong Un, the supreme leader of North Korea, has reportedly dismissed the country’s top general amid a reorganisation of the military hierarchy and wants his army to “prepare for a war,” was reported on Thursday afternoon. The military leadership of North Korea has undergone a massive change, signalling preparedness for a potential conflict by leader Kim Jong Un.
In accordance with the government-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Vice Marshal Ri Yong Gil has been nominated as General Pak Su Il’s replacement.
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Without getting into specifics, KCNA said that other “leading commanding officers” were let go, moved, or recruited during a Central Military Commission meeting on Wednesday.
Ri Yong Gil has been a longtime member of North Korea’s military elite and had to overcome many obstacles along the way to the pinnacle of his career. He was even claimed to have been put to death after a staff change seven years ago, according to Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Seoul’s Ewha Womans University.
Kim’s military reorganisation may have been motivated by a variety of factors and was not necessarily punitive, according to Cheong Seong-chang, a senior analyst at the private Sejong Institute think tank close to Seoul, capital of South Korea.
What Could This Sudden Dismissal Mean?
“Kim Jong Un has regularly promoted, dismissed, and terminated executives depending on their capacity to accomplish responsibilities.
According to Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a professor of international relations at King’s College London, it is unclear whether Pak’s removal from his position is significant.
He declared that it would be more crucial to determine whether Pak was losing all of his positions of authority. “If that’s the case, I think there can be some bigger changes on the way,” he continued.
Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, suggested that the North Korean leader may be only trying to prevent anyone below him from gaining excessive authority and power.
Kim Jong Un often swaps all of the leadership positions below him, according to Easley, “to prevent someone from gaining too much power.”
Kim Jong Un Prepares For War?
Since the beginning of 2024, North Korea has fired off a number of missiles, and during the last month of July, it sent off the Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile, which experts said was capable of reaching the United States.
Additionally, after what it said were violations into its territorial airspace, it vowed to take down American spy drones.
Kim requested that the army perform drills along with actively examining the latest weapons at the meeting that took place on Wednesday in Pyongyang.
It happened after he visited military factories on Sunday and reportedly asked them to expand their manufacturing capacity.
Kim, The leader of North Korea emphasised the requirement for a more proactive and ready approach in light of the “grave political and military situation existing in the Korean Peninsula.”
Although South Korea and the United States were not specifically mentioned in the official media story, it did refer to them as “hostile forces.” Analysing the military actions of the “chief offenders of the worsened circumstances” on the peninsula was further addressed in the report.
This action comes after several instances of North Korea’s military posturing and escalating tensions.
