Asia: A new defense minister appointed in North Korea

North Korea named Gen. No Kwang-chol as defense minister at a major parliamentary meeting this week, the country’s state media reported Wednesday.

No, an army general who had previously served as defense minister between 2018 and 2019, will succeed Kang Sun-nam, the official KCNA news agency announced, without giving further details.

Discussions with Trump

No Kwang-chol accompanied leader Kim Jong-un to Singapore in 2018 and to Vietnam the following year for talks with former US President Donald Trump.

Kim Jong-un earlier this year ordered the removal of clauses relating to Korean unification from the Constitution and dissolved agencies responsible for improving ties with the South.

But contrary to expectations, KCNA made no mention of the removal during the meeting of the Supreme People’s Assembly, which concluded on Tuesday.

Softening

Additionally, this week, Kim Jong-un said Pyongyang had “no intention of attacking the Republic of Korea” (South Korea’s official name), which some analysts interpreted as a softening of his rhetoric.

According to Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, North Korea may have decided to wait for the outcome of the US elections in November before changing its position towards Seoul, Washington’s ally.

North Korean officials could “consider adjusting the scale of constitutional revisions to align with the direction of the new American administration,” he told AFP.

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