Via
The Chosun Ilbo (English Edition) July 20, 2012
According to some unconfirmed intelligence reports some 20-30 North Korean soldiers and
General Ri Yong-ho were killed in a gun battle in Pyongyang, North Korea. Earlier this week it was reported that the general had been fired by
Kim Jong Un. Other reports claimed that Ri resigned because of an "illness." It is believed that the Supreme Leader had ordered
Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae to physically remove him from office and that is what triggered the fire fight earlier today. It was also reported that there were many previous clashes between Choe and Ri:
A gunbattle broke out when the North Korean regime removed army chief Ri Yong-ho from office, leaving 20 to 30 soldiers dead, according to unconfirmed intelligence reports. Some intelligence analysts believe Ri, who has not been seen since his abrupt sacking earlier this week, was injured or killed in the confrontation.
According to government officials here, the gunbattle erupted when Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae, the director of the People's Army General Political Bureau, tried to detain Ri in the process of carrying out leader Kim Jong-un's order to sack him. Guards protecting Ri, who is a vice marshal, apparently opened fire. "We cannot rule out the possibility that Ri was injured or even killed in the firefight," said one source.
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UPDATE: Source: Kim to reform North Korean economy after purge By Benjamin Kang Lim Reuters 7/20/2012
BEIJING — Impoverished North Korea is gearing up to experiment with agricultural and economic reforms after young leader Kim Jong-un and his powerful uncle purged the country's top general for opposing change, a source with ties to both Pyongyang and Beijing said.
The source added that the cabinet had created a special bureau to take control of the decaying economy from the military -- one of the world's largest -- which under Kim's father was given pride of place in running the country.
The downfall of Vice Marshal Ri Yong-ho and his allies gives the untested new leader and his uncle Jang Song-thaek, who married into the Kim family dynasty and is widely seen as the real power behind the throne, the mandate to try to save the battered economy and prevent the secretive regime's collapse.
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