Leadership speculation follows removal of army chief

THE HEAD of the North Korean army, Ri Yong-ho, has been relieved of his position for medical reasons, state media in Pyongyang has reported, prompting a flurry of speculation about the implications for the leadership of Kim Jong-un.

The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers’s Party of Korea had decided to “relieve” Mr Ri from his posts as vice-marshal and chief of the general staff of the Korean People’s Army and chairman of the party’s Central Military Commission “because of illness”, the official Korean Central News Agency said, without giving any further details.

While Mr Ri (69) was seen as a key mentor of Kim Jong-un, there was speculation that he was purged as part of efforts by the young Mr Kim to make his mark on the government, which he inherited seven months ago when his father, Kim Jong-il, died. He may have been a transitional figure to help the bridge the succession.

The last few weeks have seen much speculation about Kim Jong-un’s administration and the direction he is taking it. He has been shown on the state broadcaster recently visiting a concert and a kindergarten in the company of an unnamed woman, who many believe may be his wife.

South Korean intelligence have said the mystery woman is Hyon Song-wol, a musician who is hugely popular in North Korea.

If she is indeed the North Korean first lady, this marks a major departure in a country where consorts of leaders are generally kept out of the public eye and would feed into tentative hopes that Mr Kim is trying to work towards opening up the secretive Stalinist enclave.

The military is the key to power in North Korea; the country’s army is one of the biggest in the world, with 1.2 million troops.

South Korea has more than 600,000 troops facing the North along the DMZ, the world’s most heavily armed border, and there are also 28,000 troops kept in South Korea as a deterrent. Both sides of the Korean peninsula remain locked in a state of war and divided since a truce ended the Korean War in 1953 after three years of hostilities.

The decision to dismiss the Mr Ri from top military and political posts was made at a Workers Party meeting on Sunday, according to the news agency. He had appeared in public a week ago and was given various public promotions in September at a party conference, but when he failed to receive any honours at another public gathering in April, there were murmurs about his prospects.

There has been no indication in the rhetoric coming out of North Korea that anything has changed; the tone has been relentlessly vitriolic against the South, threatening to attack the south’s government and the leadership of President Lee Myung-bak.

There has been talk of a power struggle with Choe Ryong Hae, the military’s top commissar whose job it is to oversee the army. A Workers Party official, Mr Choe was handed several top jobs and was named a vice-marshal in April, and has been emerging as a more senior candidate in the past few weeks for a top job in the administration.

A North Korean rocket launch in April that the UN called a cover for a test of banned long-range missile technology angered the international community.

North Korea said the launch, which failed shortly after lift-off, was meant to put a satellite into orbit.

Pyongyang has also been incensed by US-South Korean military manoeuvres that North Korea says are a prelude to an invasion.