North Korea Removes Its Army Chief From All His Posts SEOUL, South Korea - In a dramatic fall from power within North Korea's opaque hierarchy, a senior army general widely seen as a guardian of the North's new leader was removed from all his posts, the North's official media reported on Monday. The officer, Vice Marshal Ri Yong-ho, the chief of the General Staff of the North's People's Army, was dismissed because of "illness," the North's official Korea Central News Agency reported, citing a decision the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Workers" Party of Korea made in a rare meeting convened on Sunday. Vice Marshal Ri, 69, once virtually unknown to outside observers of North Korea, rapidly ascended within the military and party hierarchy and bolted into political prominence when Kim Jong-il, the North's former leader, started grooming his third son, Kim Jong-un, as his successor after a stroke in 2008, and reportedly designated Vice Marshal Ri as a mentor. He was made chief of the military's General Staff in 2009. The next year, he was promoted to vice marshal and made vice chairman of the Central Military Commission at a party conference where Kim Jong-un also joined the military commission and was introduced as his father's official successor. He also moved into the center of party power by becoming a member of the Presidium of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Workers" Party. After the death of Kim Jong-il in December, Vice Marshal Ri was seen as a central figure in helping Kim Yong-un consolidate his authority over the military, the backbone of political power in the North. In recent months, he was one of the officials most often seen with Mr. Kim. They inspected military barracks and parades together, with the young leader often leaning in to listen to the general and laughing. Although the North Korean report cited illness as the reason for Vice Marshal Ri's removal, the Politburo's rare decision to convene on Sunday to dismiss a top military general and senior party leader was bound to spawn speculation among North Korea analysts. The inner workings of political power in North Korea are shrouded in mystery, with top officials often demoted, made to disappear, reinstated or killed in suspicious "traffic accidents." Ensuring such unpredictability in any general's career has been seen as a crucial method used by the Kim family dynasty to tame generals and party secretaries. Vice Marshal Ri was one of the seven senior generals and party officials who joined Mr. Kim as he walked alongside the hearse carrying his father during Kim Jong-il's funeral in December. They were considered major figures who the Web site of the North's main party newspaper once said "will lead the party and military during the Kim Jong-un era." But another one of the seven, U Dong-chuk, once believed to be the director of the secret police and spy agency, has disappeared from North Korean news reports since mid-March, prompting speculation about his possible persecution. Analysts in South Korea said that the fortunes of Vice Marshal Ri and Mr. U had been waning recently as the new favorites of Mr. Kim, including Choe Ryong-hae, the new top political officer in the military, and Kim Won-hong, the newly appointed director of the secret police, gained prominence.