North Korea replaced its defense minister and reshuffled several senior military officials at a meeting of the ruling party’s top military body chaired by leader Kim Jong Un over the weekend, state media reported Sunday.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Kim Song Gi, until now director of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) General Political Bureau, was appointed Minister of National Defense at the second meeting of the Ninth Central Military Commission (CMC) on Saturday with Kim Jong Un presiding.  

No Kwang Chol, Pyongyang’s defense minister since Oct. 2024, was dismissed and “recalled from the Party central