N. Korean military chief fired for ‘uncooperative attitude’

North Korea’s former military chief Ri Yong-ho was dismissed earlier this month because of his “uncooperative attitude” towards leader Kim Jong-un’s drive to tighten his grip on the North’s military, a South Korean lawmaker said Thursday, citing information provided by the South’s spy agency.

North Korea announced Ri’s dismissal last week in a surprise move that fueled speculation about a possible power struggle in the communist regime. Kim, believed to be in his late 20s, inherited the military-backed regime following the death of his father and longtime leader Kim Jong-il last December.

The latest analysis came during a parliamentary interpellation session attended by the director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS), Won Sei-hoon, according to the lawmaker who took part in the closed-door session.

Kim Jong-un’s aunt Kim Kyong-hui and her husband Jang Song-thaek are strengthening their roles as the young leader’s guardians by respectively providing mental support and policy advice, said the lawmaker who quoted the NIS on condition of anonymity.

It is also the spy agency’s assessment that the North’s three-generation hereditary power succession has been completed with Kim’s promotions to the top levels of the country’s ruling Workers’ Party, government and military, the lawmaker added.

Following Ri’s dismissal, the North announced its leader had been given the title of marshal, the highest functioning military rank.

The NIS noted it took three years for former leader Kim Jong-il to complete his inheritance of power from his own father, the North’s founding leader Kim Il-sung. (Yonhap News)