South Korea is monitoring developments in the North's armed forces, it said Monday after reports Pyongyang replaced three of its top military officials ahead of a summit with the United States. President Donald Trump is due to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore, with Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal high on the agenda. Reports said the reshuffle could be aimed at eliminating resistance to the peace overtures.
Pyongyang's armed forces, known as the Korean People's Army, are immensely influential in the North and a centre of power in their own right, symbolised by the way Kim is habitually flanked by generals on one side and civilians on the other when attending major ceremonial events.
Late last month the North's state media revealed that Kim Su Gil had been appointed director of the military's powerful General Political Bureau (GPB), replacing Kim Jong Gak. According to Yonhap news agency, which cited intelligence sources, the chief of the general staff Ri Myong Su has also been replaced by his deputy, Ri Yong Gil.
Defence minister Pak Yong Sik has been succeeded by No Kwang Chol, previously first vice minister, it added. The wholesale reshuffle would be unusual if confirmed, Seoul's unification ministry said. "We will monitor related developments," ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun told reporters. According to researchers at NK Leadership Watch, the change at the top of the GPB "represents a continuation of tightening Party control over the KPA". The political bureau could be in a position to resist policy decisions by the leadership or try to profit from future South Korean economic aid, it said. "Both of these things lend themselves to creating alternate power centres," it noted.