NKorea says powerful army chief and key adviser to leader relieved of posts because of illness | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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NKorea says powerful army chief and key adviser to leader relieved of posts because of illness

FILE - In this Sunday, April 15, 2012 file photo released by the Korean Central News Agency and distributed by the Korea News Service, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, smiles with the Korean People's Army senior officers, Vice Marshal and Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission Choe Ryong Hae, center, and Vice Marshal and the military's General Staff Chief Ri Yong Ho, during a mass military parade in Kim Il Sung Square to celebrate the centenary of the birth of his grandfather, national founder Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea said Monday, July 16, 2012 it has relieved Ri Yong Ho from all posts because of illness. (AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service)

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea says it has relieved its military chief, a key adviser to new leader Kim Jong Un, from all posts because of illness.

North Korea's state media said Monday that the decision to relieve Ri Yong Ho of duties was made at a Workers' Party meeting Sunday.

Ri was vice marshal of the Korean People's Army and the military's General Staff chief. The "military first" policy of Kim's predecessor Kim Jong Il has made the army more powerful.

It was not clear who would succeed Ri. North Korea didn't elaborate on Ri's condition or future.

Animosity on the Korean Peninsula has deepened since a North Korean rocket launch in April that the U.N. called a cover for banned missile testing. North Korea says it was a satellite launch.

News from © The Associated Press, 2012
The Associated Press

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