North Korea Appoints Demoted Pak Jong-chon as '5th in Rank' Member of the Politburo Standing Committee

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] North Korea appointed former Chief of the General Staff Park Jeong-cheon, who was demoted from Marshal to Vice Marshal at the end of June for responsibility related to quarantine measures, as a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, ranked 1st to 5th in the North Korean power hierarchy.

The Workers' Party organ, Rodong Sinmun, reported on the 7th, "The Politburo of the Party Central Committee elected Comrade Park Jeong-cheon as a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Party Central Committee and as a secretary of the Party Central Committee."

Park Jeong-cheon, a former artillery commander, was appointed Chief of the General Staff, equivalent to our Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in September 2019. He was promoted to Vice Marshal in May last year and then to Marshal five months later.

However, at the end of June, immediately after Kim Jong-un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, criticized at an expanded Politburo meeting that "a serious incident occurred involving the neglect of executing the Party's decisions on quarantine," Park was demoted from Marshal to Vice Marshal. Nevertheless, about two months later, he demonstrated his continued influence by being promoted to the Party Standing Committee, ranked 1st to 5th in the North Korean power hierarchy.

In addition, the Party Politburo appointed Rim Gwang-il as Chief of the General Staff, Jang Jeong-nam as Minister of Social Security, and Yoo Jin as Head of the Party's Military Industry Department, and elected them as candidate members.

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