소식통 "북한, 인민군 수뇌부 3인방 모두 교체한 듯"
And ahead of its summit with the U.S.,... according to an intelligence source here in South Korea,... North Korea could have replaced all of its top three military officials -- with younger and more moderate ones.
Oh Jung-hee has more on what this could mean.
A major military reshuffle could have taken place within North Korea... with all three of the regime's top military officials replaced.
According to an intelligence source in South Korea, Pyongyang replaced its defense minister Pak Yong-sik with No Kwang-chol, who's been serving as a vice minister.
The chief of the Korean People's Army's general staff Ri Myong-su has been replaced with Ri Yong-gil, who was the deputy chief.
This... follows the news that Kim Jong-gak, the director of the General Political Bureau of the North Korean army, had been replaced by Pyongyang mayor Kim Su-gil -- confirmed last month through the North's state-run media.

Some view that North Korea felt the need to bring about change in its military along with the diplomatic turnaround surrounding the Korean Peninsula.
Especially with next week's talks with the U.S.,... some watchers say Pyongyang could have wanted to clear hardliners out of the way and tame the armed forces.
But others point out... that distinguishing hardliners and softliners within the North Korean military is meaningless... as Kim Jong-un already reorganized the army 4 years ago.
They say... age is rather the reason for the reshuffle.

"Pak Yong-sik and Ri Myong-su came down to Panmunjom for the inter-Korean summit in April but they headed back to the North before finishing off the day's schedule. They are very old; they were born in 1930s and 40s, so they can't be out for even a day-long schedule."

South Korea's unification ministry was cautious in its comments and said the news about two of the three officials hasn't been officially confirmed by the North.
But the ministry said, if true, this could have taken place at the North's military commission meeting last month.

"Pyongyang reported that it held the first enlarged meeting of the ruling party's seventh central military commission on May 18th... and said it dealt with organizational matters like removing and appointing members of the commission and military organs."

The ministry added that if the news is true, it would be unprecedented... and said that it will keep a close eye on related movement.
Oh Jung-hee, Arirang News.

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