Kim Kyok Sik (77), who previously held positions as the head of the
Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces (MPAF) and chief of the General Staff of
the Chosun People’s Army, has died.
“Kim Kyok Sik, a member of Chosun Workers
Party Central Committee and delegate of Supreme People’s Assembly, died of
acute respiratory failure at 12:30 a.m. on the 10th,” Rodong Sinmun, North Korea’s state-run
publication, reported on May 11th.
It added, “Even until his final breath,
Comrade Kim was armed with the Party’s Juche ideology; he was an unwavering loyal
member of the Party.”
A stalwart hardliner within the North
Korean military, Kim Kyok Sik was noted as the operational commander behind the
sinking of the Cheonan, a South Korean navy ship, in March 2010; he was in
charge of the 4th Corps in Hwanghae Province at the time. He is also widely
believed to have commanded the Yeongpyeong Island shelling, which took place in
November of that same year.
Funeral committees are responsible for
events held upon the deaths of supreme leaders, and their content and order is
analogous to the domestic North Korean power structure itself. It remains to be
seen if such a committee will be announced for Kim Kyok Sik.
