| Kim eyes reform in purge of old guard |
SEOUL North Korea’s young leader has been purging older generals in an attempt to curb the power of the 1.2-million-strong military and potentially open the way for economic reforms, analysts said Thursday.
Kim Jong-Un sacked army chief Ri Yong-ho, 69, and replaced him with a veteran but low-profile field commander, Hyon Yong-chol, who is believed to be in his early 60s.
Kim Jong-un has also been made “marshal” of North Korea, a title held by his late father Kim Jong-Il and his grandfather, the country’s founding father Kim Il-Sung.
The young leader has been removing other aged powerful figures from his father’s era, including former armed forces minister Kim Yong-chun and U Dong-chuk who ran the secret police, analysts said.
Ri was appointed chief of the general staff by Kim Jong-Il and played a key role in helping his son take over the reins of the country.
But the young Kim seems to have seen the hot-headed heavyweight as an obstacle to his plans to rein in the military, whose power had grown out of all proportion under the “Songun”, or military-first, policy of his father, analysts said.
The youthful leader also inherited an economy in ruins after decades of Stalinist mismanagement and a malnourished population dependent on foreign food aid.
Educated in the West, Kim Jong-Un is seen as more receptive to undertaking sweeping reforms to open up the crumbling state-directed economy than was his late father.
Cheong Seong-chang of the Sejong Institute said having tightened his grip on power over the past seven months, Kim Jong-un was now in a better position “to take measures for economic reform and openness”.
Agence France-Presse
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