Kim Jong Un removes many key figures to cement his leadership

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has replaced officials holding almost half of the nation’s key posts in an attempt to strengthen his control over the country, a South Korean government report reported Tuesday.

Kim Jong Un has changed the officials filling 97 out of 218 military, party and government posts since he took over the communist dynasty in December 2011, the South’s Unification Ministry said in a report.

Kim has often used a “demotion and reinstatement” process in reshuffling military posts in an attempt to tighten control over the military, the ministry said.

“This means Kim has completed the dynastic succession of power successfully and faster than expected,” Yang Moo-Jin, a professor at Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies, told AFP.

He said Kim had replaced old appointees dating from his father’s era with relatively young figures loyal to himself.

The South’s spy agency said in a separate report to parliament that Kim had stepped up a campaign to build up a personality cult around himself.

[Agence France-Presse]                              Related post