N. Korea's Kim Jong Un given title of marshal

14:40, 18 July 2012

BEIJING. July 18. KAZINFORM North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been awarded the new title of "marshal," the country's official media reported Wednesday, a sign that he is in full control of the military despite the recent dismissal of its top officer from the country's leadership.

photo: QAZINFORM

The Central Committee and the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, the National Defense Commission and the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, the parliament, jointly decided Tuesday to promote Kim to marshal from a four-star general, Korean Central News Agency said in a short dispatch from Pyongyang, Kyodo reports.

The development came just two days after a surprise announcement that Vice Marshal Ri Yong Ho, chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army and a close aide to Kim, has been removed from all his posts due to "illness," sparking speculation that Ri may have been purged amid a power struggle in the core of Kim's regime.