{"id":17198,"date":"2023-08-11T00:05:22","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T21:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/?p=17198"},"modified":"2023-08-11T00:05:26","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T21:05:26","slug":"north-korean-leader-fires-top-military-general-calls-for-weapons-production-boost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/north-korean-leader-fires-top-military-general-calls-for-weapons-production-boost\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korean leader fires top military general, calls for weapons production boost"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un dismissed his top military general and called for a boost in weapons production as he urged his military to prepare for war, North Korea\u2019s state-owned media KCNA reported on August 9, 2023.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

North Korea\u2019s state-owned media outlet reported that Kim presided over a meeting of the Central Military Commission in Pyongyang and he discussed his plans for developing policies to deter North Korea\u2019s enemies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KCNA reported that Kim Jong Un dismissed, transferred, or appointed several \u201cleading commanding officers\u201d during the Central Military Commission meeting. The media outlet added that the North Korean leader urged his military commanders to boost weapons production and expand the scope of military drills. <\/p>\n\n\n\n


Shakeup in military leadership<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the meeting, Kim Jong Un dismissed the country\u2019s top military leader, Chief of the General Staff Pak Su Il, and replaced him with General Ri Yong Gil, who previously served as the country’s defense minister. Kim also appointed General Ri as the commander of North Korea\u2019s conventional troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pak was appointed as North Korea\u2019s Chief of General Staff only seven months ago. The KCNA report did not elaborate on the reason behind Pak\u2019s dismissal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

General Ri Yong Gil served in the position of the country\u2019s Chief of General Staff before being sacked in 2016. His subsequent absence from the office led to speculations of his execution in South Korean media, however, he appeared a few months later after being nominated for a senior military post and eventually becoming the country\u2019s defense minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un points to a map of the Korean Peninsula at a meeting of the Central Military Commission in Pyongyang, North Korea, on August 9, 2023. (Image Credit: KCNA\/via Reuters)<\/sup><\/em>

<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

War preparations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The KCNA report highlighted that Kim advised the top military brass to start war preparations. Without naming the United States or South Korea, the two countries that Pyongyang considers its rival enemies, the report said that the meeting \u201canalyzed the military moves of the chief culprits of deteriorated situation\u201d on the peninsula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaking full war preparations\u201d was the top agenda item for the meeting, the KCNA report said. \u201cThe present situation, in which the hostile forces are getting ever more undisguised in their reckless military confrontation with the DPRK, [Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea] requires the latter\u2019s army to have more positive, proactive and overwhelming will and thoroughgoing and perfect military readiness for a war,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

North Korea has rapidly ramped up its military rhetoric this summer by threatening to shoot down U.S. reconnaissance planes. Pyongyang\u2019s military effort saw an increase especially after U.S. Navy made a port call for its nuclear-capable submarine in South Korea for the first time in four decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month, the North Korean leader participated in a \u201cVictory Day\u201d parade, along with Russian and Chinese delegations<\/span><\/a>. The parade was held in Pyongyang on July 27, 2023, and displayed some of the country\u2019s most powerful nuclear missiles including its advanced ballistic missile technology, weapons, and drones. The country also recently tested the Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of striking the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"North<\/a>
North Korea holds a grand military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, celebrated in North Korea as “Victory Day”. (Image Credit: KCNA)<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un dismissed his top military general and called for a boost in weapons production as he urged his military to prepare for war, North Korea\u2019s state-owned media KCNA reported on August 9, 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[124,1],"tags":[137,380,6,408,5,96,108,95,128],"class_list":["post-17198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-news","tag-asia","tag-asia-pacific","tag-defense","tag-korean-peninsula","tag-military","tag-north-korea","tag-nuclear","tag-south-korea","tag-war"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/North-Korean-leader-officials-meeting.jpg?fit=690%2C370&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jJWb-4to","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17198"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17213,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17198\/revisions\/17213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}