View of Chinese expert on NK’s dismissal of Ri Yong-ho

China’s experts on North Korea are producing diverse analyses in connection with recent dismissal of North Korea military chief Ri Yong-ho by its new leader Kim Jong-un.

China’s major press including government-controlled Xinhua News Agency reported swiftly the news on July 16. Other news media analyzed about the background of shocking military reshuffle by quoting China’s North Korea experts and the reports of the foreign press.

In an news analysis, titled “Removal of Ri Yong-ho surprises the West,” the Global Times, a sister paper of People’s Daily, reported that North Korea relieved military chief Ri Yong-ho from his top post due to his illness, but foreign press media viewed that there must be a hidden secrete behind the reshuffle.

Some other media forecast that such a tornado-level shake up is feared to invite a counterattack later from the military. One expert interpreted that Ri Yong-ho’s dismissal is a signal to change military-first politics in North Korea.

One Chinese expert on North Korea who served as a visiting researcher of the Brookings Institution said in an interview with a local TV that “there could several interpretations about Lee’s dismissal, I believe that it came from the conflict between NK military hawk constantly threatening South Korea and reformists putting emphasis on imporving people’s livelihood.” He also said “there is also a possibility that the NK regime used Lee as a scapegoat for the launching failure of satellite Gwangmyungsung 3 last April.”

Another Chinese researcher on North Korea who serves at the Asia-Pacific Research Center in Tongji University, pointed out that “Excessive controversy over the removal is unnecessary because personnel reshuffle is normal in the course of power transition from an old to a new regime and another major reshuffle may follow in the coming weeks.”

In the meantime, one expert at China Foreign Affairs University said in an interview with Global Times, that “Lee’s dismissal shows general direction of North Korean reform to be pursued in the days to come. The change is presumed to put emphasis on economic reform and openness.”

Ri Yong-ho had been among the top elite military officials guiding Kim Jong-un following the death of his father Kim Jong-il last year, holding the positions of vice minister of the Central Military Commission and being a member of the President of the Political Bureau.

Ri was also vice marshal and chief of the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army (KPA), making him the military’s number two behind Kim. 

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