Kim Jong Un Presides Over Major KPA High Command Personnel Shakeup Tied to Corruption Scandal

Kim Jong Un chaired the second meeting of the WPK's ninth Central Military Commission on August 29, at which the body dismissed No Kwang Chol as minister of national defense and removed him from the Political Bureau, reassigning him as senior deputy director of the Munitions Industry Department 1234. Kim Song Gi, until then director of the KPA General Political Bureau, was named the new defense minister, an appointment KCNA and 38 North describe as concurrent with his GPB post 12. Pak Jong Chon, previously dropped from senior posts in February, was elected to the Central Committee and Political Bureau and named a CMC vice chairman while retaining his role as an MND adviser, joining Jong Kyong Thaek as the commission's second vice chairman 134. The CMC also moved Yu Kwang U from Military Security Command director to GPB senior deputy director and installed Om Ju Ho, previously the air force's political commissar, as MSC director, with both Yu and Pak gaining new Political Bureau seats 14. 38 North reported the shakeup follows the corruption scandal around former GPB Organization Department director Pak Hui Chol, who was accused of selling MND and GPB posts and enriching himself through 2022-2026, and that the reassignments were meant to reshape oversight among the MND, GPB, and MSC to prevent a recurrence rather than to punish No Kwang Chol or the other reshuffled officials for personal involvement 1. KCNA reported the meeting also discussed "structural reorganization" of future defense affairs; separately, Kim Jong Un awarded state honors to defense scientists for new weapons-related technical achievements 34.