The North Korean state media has gone to the unusual lengths of reporting that one of its top officials has been removed from his position.
The removal of Gen. Ju Sang Seong, the People’s Safety Ministry head, was revealed by Chosun Central News Agency (KCNA) on the 16th.
Citing health problems, KCNA announced, “Due to a long illness, the National Defense Commission’s Minister of People’s Security Ju Sang Seong has been relieved of his duties,” without offering any additional details.
However, the announcement is being seen as unusual given not only the fact that in North Korea most high level functionaries tend to keep their posts until death, but also because Ju was clearly upwardly mobile in the Party hierarchy just six months ago, and active until very recently.
Ju, who was born in 1933, became the People’s Safety Minister in 2004, thereafter becoming a National Defense Commission member during the 12th Supreme People’s Assembly in April 2009, before being elevated to the Politburo at last September’s Workers’ Party Delegates’ Conference.
Additionally, he reportedly held meetings with Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu, his Chinese opposite number, during Meng’s visit to Pyongyang from February 13th to 15th this year.
As a result, based on the role of the People’s Safety Ministry as an organ of state security and the surprisingly public nature of Joo’s removal, some analysts assume that there is more to it than meets the eye, and are linking the move to the internecine succession of Kim Jong Eun.
