Ri Yong-gil (Yonhap) 
 
 A top North Korean military officer was executed earlier this month on charges of pursuing personal interests and engaging in corruption, a source said Wednesday.The source said that the execution of Ri Yong-gil, the chief of the General Staff of the North’s Korean People’s Army, occurred around the time a senior-level meeting involving officials from the military and the ruling Workers’ Party was convened from Feb. 2-3.The execution came as a surprise, as Ri had been regarded as one of the most prominent figures in the Kim coterie. In 2013, Ri was appointed as the general staff chief equivalent to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman. The next year, he become a candidate member of the party’s powerful politburo.The source offered several potential reasons for his execution.“Recently, North Korean leader Kim appointed party officials for senior military posts. For this, Ri, a longtime active-duty field officer, might have expressed his displeasure,” the source told reporters.“There is also a possibility that those who lead party control over the military might have reported Ri’s (concocted) blasphemous activities to the authorities so as to eliminate him.”The sources also noted that the continued executions of top military officers signaled that Kim was apprehensive about maintaining firm control over the North’s military.Since Kim took power in December 2011, a series of top military officers were purged or executed. In July 2012, Ri Yong-ho, then chief of the general staff of the North’s military, was purged. Ri was then replaced by Hyon Yong-chol, who was executed in April 2015.Rumors have persisted that there could be some power struggle between military and party officials as Kim has been trying to strengthen the role of the party as part of efforts to institutionalize his dictatorship. Under the rule of his late father Kim Jong-il, the party’s role to support the leader was rather loose, as he wielded enormous charismatic authority.Speculation about Ri’s oust had already been circulating as he had not appeared at recent high-profile military events including a Pyongyang ceremony marking what the reclusive regime claims to be a successful launch of the Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite.Reporting on the ceremony for the satellite launch, the Rodong Sinmun, the daily of the ruling party, enumerated participants in the order of their military and party rankings. Ri Myong-su, an general of the North’s Korean People’s Army, took the place of the executed Ri, sparking speculation that he might have been newly appointed for the general staff chief post.By Song Sang-ho ( sshluck@heraldcorp.com ||||| 2016/02/10 17:13 
 
 (ATTN: UPDATES with details from 3rd para; CHANGES attribution to multiple sources) 
 
 SEOUL, Feb. 10 (Yonhap) -- The chief of North Korea's military was executed this month on corruption and other charges, sources familiar with North Korean affairs said Wednesday. 
 
 Army Gen. Ri Yong-gil, chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army, also faced charges of pursuing personal gains, the sources said. 
 
 According to one source, Ri was executed last week around the time North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presided over a joint meeting of the North's ruling Workers' Party and the military. 
 
 Ri, who was appointed to the post in 2013, had won Kim's favor and accompanied him on various inspection trips to military exercises and the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces, the equivalent of the South's Defense Ministry, until last month. 
 
 However, he was absent from the joint meeting of the party and the military as well as from events in Pyongyang that celebrated the successful launch of a satellite on Sunday. 
 
 In listing the leaders present at the celebrations, the North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper did not mention Ri and instead listed Gen. Ri Myong-su in his place. 
 
 Ri Myong-su, a former minister of people's security, may have replaced Ri Yong-gil as chief of the General Staff, said one source. 
 
 "Ri Yong-gil is known to have been faithful to principles, so it appears the North cited (the charges) to justify his execution," the source said. 
 
 The source also raised the possibility that Ri may have raised objections to Kim's recent appointment of party leaders to key military posts. 
 
 Otherwise, there could have been a plot to remove Ri among those within the party's leadership, the source added. 
 
 If confirmed, Ri's removal comes less than a year after Kim executed his defense minister. 
 
 "This shows that Kim Jong-un is very nervous about the armed forces," the source said. "It also shows his reign of terror continues." 
 
 
 
 (END) ||||| Three of North Korea’s top military officials have been replaced, a South Korean news agency reported Monday, marking an apparent shake-up in leader Kim Jong Un’s inner circle before next week’s planned summit with President Trump. 
 
 The report by the Yonhap news agency, citing an intelligence source, could not be independently verified. 
 
 But, if confirmed, the moves suggest another step in Kim’s ongoing reorganization in military leadership — this time bringing in younger military overseers to replace older ranks possibly at odds with his outreach to the United States and its ally South Korea, experts said. 
 
 The officials who reportedly were dropped are from some of the highest echelons of the North’s military structure, including Ri Myong Su, the chief of general staff for the Korean People’s Army. Ri was thought to be a confidant of Kim’s father, the late leader Kim Jong Il. 
 
 The others dismissed, according to Yonhap, were defense chief Pak Yong Sik and Kim Jong Gak, director of the political bureau of the North Korean army. 
 
 It was unclear when the changes were carried out, but plans to replace Kim Jong Gak were reported in the North Korean media last month, Yonhap said. 
 
 North Korea made no immediate reference to any military changes, and it remains difficult to assess whether the shake-up could signal a significant change in North Korean policies. 
 
 It appeared, however, that it represented some level of generational shift. All the officials who were reportedly promoted were younger than those dismissed, according to Yonhap, including the new general staff chief, Ri Yong Gil, who at 63 is 21 years younger than the outgoing Ri Myong Su. 
 
 To underscore the challenges in following North Korean affairs, the Yonhap agency reported erroneously in February 2016 that Ri Yong Gil had been executed as part of high-level purges. But he and the two other generals who reportedly were promoted to top positions — No Kwang Chol and Kim Su Gil — have been seen at major party and military events with the North’s leader over the past two years, according to 38 North, a website that closely follows North Korean affairs. 
 
 Kim Yong Hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, said the reported new military leadership brings expertise in military-run economic affairs rather than combat strategies. 
 
 This could be a sign that the North Korean leader is “pursuing a new policy to become a developing country without nuclear weapons, rather than a poor country with nuclear weapons,” he said. 
 
 “He has chosen the route of pursuing denuclearization and a peace treaty through dialogue, and is appointing a new generation of military leaders to set the tone for his vision,” Kim Yong Hyun said. 
 
 He described Kim’s reported move as sidelining “leaders of the past, of Kim Jong Il’s generation.” 
 
 “Kim Jong Un has chosen a new leadership who reflects his new approach and can more naturally propagate his new policies to bring stability within the military,” the professor said. 
 
 The military moves also may be viewed as another step by Kim to underscore his willingness to make bold internal changes ahead of the scheduled June 12 summit with Trump in Singapore. But the North has given no clear hints about how far it could go toward meeting U.S. demands to dismantle its nuclear program. 
 
 Michael Madden, who runs the North Korea Leadership Watch website, said the military changes, if confirmed, are part of a gradual remake to put the armed forces in the hands of Kim loyalists. 
 
 “These are guys that are Kim Jong Un guys — Kim Jong Un loyalists and people who he trusts,” Madden said, noting that Kim also may have wanted to make sure his handpicked military chiefs are in charge when he leaves for the Singapore summit. 
 
 “If he doesn’t bring them to Singapore with him, it might help to have them in watch while he goes away, like a designated survivor,” Madden said. 
 
 Appointing his loyalists to the top military ranks would ensure there is no communication gap or corruption that could jeopardize improving inter-Korea relationships, Madden said. The military oversees distribution of resources from the South, which likely will pick up as the two Koreas try to forge more cultural and diplomatic contacts. 
 
 “It’s a good choice of support for his diplomacy efforts. It’s good to have these people in high office to provide him follow-through,” Madden said. “So if there are policies he needs to implement, these are people who are not going to be resistant to that and they will make sure his policies are implemented in a timely fashion.” 
 
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– Kim Jong Un has executed another top military official, sources say. Army Gen. Ri Yong Gil, chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army, was reportedly executed last week after being found guilty of pursuing personal gains and corruption. Appointed military chief in 2013, Ri was spotted in public alongside Kim at inspections of military exercises until last month, sources tell South Korea's Yonhap News. However, he wasn't present at a joint meeting of the Workers' Party and the military from Feb. 2-3, nor has he been seen at celebrations in honor of Sunday's rocket launch. A source speculates that Ri may have disapproved of recent military appointments, per the Korea Herald. Gen. Ri Myong Su, a former minister of people's security, may have taken over his post. "This shows that Kim Jong Un is very nervous about the armed forces," the source says. But an expert tells Bloomberg there are two ways to view the purge: "One argument is that even after nearly five years in power, Kim is still weak, and is wiping out his lieutenants to try and keep a grip. The other argument is that he's strong and is in full control of the army. He can do exactly what he wants with the army and this is a typical move to wipe out the old guard."