South Korea replaces Army, Air Force chiefs

From left, Suh Wook, new Army chief of staff; Lt. Gen. Won In-choul, new head the Air Force; LT. Gen. Choi Byung-hyuk, deputy commander of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command; Lt. Gen. Nam Young-sin, head of the Ground Operations Command; and Maj. Gen. Lee Seung-do, Marine Corps commandant. Courtesy of the Ministry of Defense

South Korea on Monday replaced its Army, Air Force and Marine Corps chiefs in a regular reshuffle of top uniformed officers, as the military seeks to maintain robust readiness amid peace efforts with North Korea.

The defense ministry said that LT. Gen. Suh Wook, chief director of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), was tapped as the new Army chief of staff to replace Gen. Kim Yong-woo, who has led the armed service since August 2017.

Lt. Gen. Won In-choul, the vice JCS chairman, was named to head the Air Force in place of Gen. Lee Wang-keun, who was appointed to the top post also in August 2017.

Maj. Gen. Lee Seung-do, commander of the military readiness inspection group at the JCS, was named the Marine Corps commandant to replace Lt. Gen. Jun Jin-goo, who has served in the post since April 2017.

The government also appointed LT. Gen. Choi Byung-hyuk, the vice Army chief of staff, as the deputy commander of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, and Lt. Gen. Nam Young-sin, the chief of the Defense Security Support Command, as the head of the Ground Operations Command. (Yonhap)