The U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was commenting on a report by South Korea's Yonhap news agency that all three of the North's top military officials were believed to have been replaced. WASHINGTON: North Korea's top three military officials have been removed from their posts, a senior US official said on Sunday (Jun 3), as US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un prepare to meet on Jun 12 in Singapore. Analysts described it as a move toward opening the reclusive communist regime in preparation for the historic June 12 summit between President Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong-un. Citing an unidentified intelligence official, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said No Kwang Chol, first vice minister in the defence ministry, had replaced Pak Yong Sik as the defence chief, while Ri Yong Gil had returned as the army's chief of general staff in place of Ri Myong Su. South Korea's Yonhap news agency, citing an unnamed intelligence official, reported that defense chief Pak Yong Sik had been replaced by No Kwang Chol, while Ri Myong Su, chief of the Korean People's Army (KPA) general staff, had been replaced by his deputy, Ri Yong Gil. Army General Kim Su Gil's replacement of Kim Jong Gak as director of the KPA's General Political Bureau was confirmed in a North Korean state media report last month when Kim Su Gil accompanied North Korea's Kim Jong Un on a field guidance trip to a beach tourist zone with other officials.
According to multiple sources, North Korea has fired its top three military officials and replaced them with younger loyalists. One of the three new appointees, general Ri Yong-gil, was inaccurately "reported" in 2016 as having been executed.