Pyongyang: 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, the country 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 meeting followed a serious incident where a new North Korean warship partly capsized during its launch on May 21, an event witnessed by the North's leader who condemned it as an intolerable "criminal act." 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," as reported by KCNA, though further details were not disclosed.
North Korea stated that the meeting focused on strategies to strengthen the "steel-like discipline system" within the country's armed forces and to enforce "tight control and guidance" over the military. Decisions were made regarding "military measures to firmly maintain the strategic and tactical superiority" and the approval of new projects in defense science and industry sectors, although specifics remained undisclosed.
The meeting seems to aim at reinforcing military discipline following the warship accident. Kim Jong-un has mandated that the restoration of the warship be "completed unconditionally" before a plenary meeting of the WPK scheduled for June. In connection with the incident, North Korea has detained several officials, including the vice director of the party's munitions industry department.