Photos Indicate Demotion of North General?

A close aid of Kim Jong-il has dropped a rank, from four-star to three-star general, in a recently released photo that shows Kim Jong-il inspecting a joint training of ground, naval and air forces.

General Kim Myong-guk, 70, a high-ranking official in charge of military operations under the North's general political bureau of the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces, appears as a colonel general in the pictures released by Korean Central Television in Pyongyang, which showed Kim Jong-il observing the joint drills along with three generals, including General Kim, on Monday. In the photos, General Kim is explaining the training operations to Kim Jong-il. Reporting on military operations is the responsibility of a colonel general.

South Korean government sources said Kim seems to be retaining his position at the ministry. The colonel general was promoted to general in 1994, and the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper for the North's ruling Workers' Party, had called him a four-star general until last September.

But General Kim might have been demoted since then.

"Kim Myong-guk has remained a general for a long time. And since he accompanied Kim Jong-il recently for the joint drill inspection, Monday's photo was not an old one taken before he was promoted to four-star general," a high-ranking South Korean government official said to the South Korean JoongAng Ilbo on condition of anonymity. "We have intelligence that he has been demoted, but we are still trying to verify that, and if it's true to determine the cause of the demotion."

Another official told JoongAng Ilbo, "Even though there are some cases in North Korea where generals have been removed from their positions due to political or professional negligence, it is unprecedented to see an officer remaining a general while being demoted."

Political science professor Choi Jong-kun at Yonsei University said there is no recent incident other than the inter-Korean naval clash near Daecheong Island on the Yellow Sea Nov. 10 that would account for a demotion. Pyongyang reinforced the intensity of its training in areas around the Yellow Sea after the battle and declared waters around Northern Limit Line "a peacetime naval firing zone."

"I believe North Korea demoted Kim Myong-guk as a penalty for losing the naval skirmish," Choi said.

Other sources said they believed the punishment was the result of abuse of authority by General Kim. They also said General Kim likely retained a general's title because he is a core aide of Kim Jong-il.

General Kim accompanied the North's leader to inspections 15 times last year.