N. Korea leader fires vice premier over factory project
SEOUL, South Korea—North Korean leader Kim Jong Un dismissed a vice premier in charge of the country’s machine-building industry, state media reported on Tuesday, in an apparent bid to strengthen discipline among senior officials ahead of the upcoming ruling Workers’ Party congress to establish new economic and other state objectives.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that Kim blamed Yang Sung Ho for causing “unnecessary man-made confusion” in a speech marking the completion of a first-stage modernization project at the Ryongsong Machine Complex in the northeast on Monday.
Kim said the project suffered “not a small amount of economic loss” because of irresponsible and incompetent officials.
Kim said authorities wasted “large amounts of funds and labor” and that the munitions industry sector was subsequently left with a heavier burden, according to KCNA.
Kim said he criticized Yang during a party meeting in December and watched him closely, but found that he felt no sense of responsibility at all, KCNA said.
