Seoul: North Korea has replaced senior military officials, including directors of the armed forces' artillery and security bureau, during a meeting of the ruling party's central military commission, state media reported Friday. Guided by leader Kim Jong-un, North Korea held the eighth enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) on Wednesday, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
According to Yonhap News Agency, the commission "newly appointed six commanding officers of corps-level units, the director of the Artillery Bureau and the director of the Security Bureau and newly dispatched some political commissars," the KCNA said, without disclosing other details. The meeting discussed ways to more firmly establish the "steel-like discipline system" of the country's armed forces organs and exercise "tight control and guidance" on the military.
At the meeting, North Korea decided on "military measures to firmly maintain the strategic and tactical superiority" and approved a series of new projects in the defense science and industry sectors, without revealing further details. The North's meeting appears to be intended to tighten the military's discipline following the recent warship accident occurring during the launch.
A new North Korean warship partly capsized during its launch ceremony last week, a serious accident that the North's leader witnessed and criticized as an intolerable "criminal act." Kim ordered the restoration of the warship to be "completed unconditionally" before a plenary meeting of the WPK's meeting set for June.