N. Korean army chief purged for unauthorized troop mobilization: NHK
North Korea's former vice marshal Ri Yong-ho was reportedly purged for mobilizing troops without Kim Jong-un's permission. / Yonhap
By Kim Da-hee
North Korea’s former vice marshal Ri Yong-ho was possibly purged for mobilizing troops without leader Kim Jong-un’s permission, Japanese broadcaster NHK has reported.
The report was at odds with the North’s public announcement in 2012 that the former army chief was relieved of duties due to an unspecified illness.
NHK said it had obtained a USB that contained 12,000 pages of confidential documents about the North Korean leadership in 2014. The USB came from a North Korean trading company executive who was affiliated with the Korean People’s Army. After analyzing the documents, the broadcaster found they strongly condemned Ri.
Part of the papers stated: “Some troops were under pressure from orders of ‘the counter-revolutionary bastard’ Ri, who defied the ideology of our supreme leader Kim Jong-un.” The documents said Ri and the troops’ hesitant move under Ri’s order caused “a great harm to the People’s Army.”