INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kim Jong Un wants military to play bigger role in critical infrastructure projectsWashington / Seoul: North
Korea's top three military officials have been removed from their posts, a senior U.S
official said on Sunday, a move analysts said could support efforts by the North's young leader to jump-start economic development and
engage with the world.Kim Jong Un is preparing for a high-stakes summit with U.S
President Donald Trump in Singapore on June 12, the first such meeting between a North Korean leader and a sitting U.S
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was commenting on a report by South Korea's Yonhap news agency that all three of the North's
top military officials were believed to have been replaced.Kim's motivation remains unclear but analysts said the shake-up allows him and
the ruling party to tighten control over the Korean People's Army (KPA) at a critical time of international engagement and domestic
development. Donald Trump wants North Korea to "denuclearize" in return for relief from economic sanctions"If Kim Jong Un is set on making
and South Korea and dealing away at least part of the nuclear program, he will have to put the KPA's influence in a box and keep it there,"
said Ken Gause, director of the International Affairs Group at CNA, a non-profit research and analysis organization."This reshuffle has
brought to the fore the officers who can do just that
They are loyal to Kim Jong Un and no one else."Trump revived the Singapore summit on Friday after canceling it a week earlier.SOME
DISSENTThe United States is seeking a negotiated end to North Korea's nuclear weapons program and U.S
officials believe there was some dissension in the military about Kim's approaches to South Korea and the United States.Trump wants North
Korea to "denuclearize," or get rid of its nuclear arsenal, in return for relief from economic sanctions
North Korea's leadership is believed to regard nuclear weapons as crucial to its survival, while Kim has said he plans to focus on economic
official did not identify the three ousted military officials.Citing an unidentified intelligence official, Yonhap said No Kwang Chol, first
vice minister of the Ministry of People's Armed Forces, had replaced Pak Yong Sik as defense chief, while Ri Myong Su was replaced by his
deputy, Ri Yong Gil.North Korean state media previously confirmed that Army General Kim Su Gil had replaced Kim Jong Gak as director of the
KPA's General Political Bureau.The White House, State Department, CIA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond
immediately to requests for official comment.South Korea's unification and defense ministries declined to confirm the report, while an
official at the Unification Ministry said the government was watching the leadership situation in the North very closely.ECONOMIC FACTORS,
PARTY CONTROLGiven the military's secondary role in the country's nuclear and missile programs, the moves are likely more about installing a
younger, even more trusted cohort of officials who Kim Jong Un can rely on as he confronts a variety of domestic and international issues,
said Michael Madden, a North Korea expert at Johns Hopkins University's 38 North website."The nuclear weapons are a side issue," he said.The
moves are likely linked in part to Kim Jong Un's drive to have the military take a bigger role in critical infrastructure projects
That could explain why newly appointed director of the KPA's General Political Bureau, Army General Kim Su Gil, accompanied Kim Jong Un on a
field guidance trip to a beach tourist zone with other officials, Madden said.Kim Jong Un is also likely expecting to receive more
international economic aid and investment soon as part of the ongoing talks and he wants to prevent corruption that plagued some past
projects, Madden said.All of the newly promoted officials are younger than their predecessors, according to Yonhap, especially 63-year-old
Ri Yong Gil, who is 21 years younger than Ri Myong Su."This points to two things: the consolidation of Kim Jong Un's power as the sole
leader of North Korea and strengthened cooperation between the North's party and military as the country works towards further economic
development," said Yang Moo-jin, professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul."They're all young but capable people," Yang
said.Lower-level U.S.-North Korean talks to prepare for the summit are continuing but have made only "halting progress," according to a
official briefed on the discussions.That official said U.S
negotiators' efforts to press for definitions of immediate, comprehensive, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization by North Korea had
run into opposition from the White House.In a remarkable shift in tone eight days after canceling the summit, citing Pyongyang's "open
hostility," Trump welcomed North Korea's former intelligence chief, Kim Yong Chol, to the White House on Friday, exchanging smiles and
handshakes.All three of the new officials have at least some experience interacting with foreign delegations, a factor that is critical as
Kim seeks to line up meetings with leaders from the United States, China, Russia, and Syria."They are shaping these guys up because there is
going to be a lot of foreign interaction," Madden said
"They know to sit there and not get too drunk at the parties they know how to behave themselves."(Reporting by John Walcott in Washington;
Additional reporting by Christine Kim and Josh Smith in Seoul; Writing by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Peter Cooney and Paul Tait)© Thomson
Reuters 2018(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated
