NIS: "North Korea's Ri Pyong-chol and Pak Jong-chon Demoted" ... Causes Include Delays in Reserve Rice Supply

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] The National Intelligence Service has confirmed the demotion of Ri Byong-chol, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea, and Pak Jong-chon, Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army.

On the 8th, the National Intelligence Service reported to the National Assembly Intelligence Committee that Vice Chairman Ri was removed from the Standing Committee and demoted to head of the Military Industry Department, while Chief of the General Staff Pak was demoted from Marshal to Vice Marshal but retained his position as Chief of the General Staff.

The disciplinary actions are believed to be due to inadequate responses to COVID-19 quarantine measures and failure to resolve food shortages. Previously, Kim Jong-un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, reprimanded officials and reshuffled personnel at an expanded Politburo meeting citing a "major quarantine incident."

The National Intelligence Service analyzed that the "major quarantine incident" was a complex issue involving insufficient preparation for operating the disinfection facility at Uiju quarantine station in North Pyongan Province, delays in supplying wartime reserve rice, and poor management practices, according to Kim Byung-gi, the Democratic Party's secretary of the Intelligence Committee.

Before the expanded Politburo meeting, Kim Jong-un acknowledged the food shortage at a plenary meeting of the Party and signed a "special order," which reportedly included instructions to release military rice supplies from regional military units. However, the military apparently failed to properly execute the order to release the rice, leading to accountability being placed on senior military officials.

Insufficient quarantine measures to resume trade with China were also cited as reasons for the reprimands. The National Intelligence Service stated, "To open the border, disinfection was necessary, but the disinfection base was set at Uiju Airfield, which was previously used as a military airfield," and "However, due to inadequate preparation for operating the disinfection facility, the border could not be opened," according to Ha Tae-kyung, the People Power Party's secretary of the Intelligence Committee.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.