South Korean media: the head of the North Korean General Staff was dismissed from all posts with gunfire, killing dozens of people
The mysterious expulsion from all posts of the DPRK army commander Lee Yong-ho led to the appearance of frightening rumors due to the North Korean "iron curtain". Former leader of the late leader Kim Jong-il refused to leave quietly, and in the process of his dismissal there was an exchange of fire with many dead, reported the South Korean newspaper The Chosun Ilbo, citing unconfirmed intelligence data.
According to this information, from 20 to 30, the soldiers died during a shootout that occurred when Lee Young-ho was trying to withdraw from the office. Vice-Marshal Choi Ren He, director of the general political bureau of the people's army of the DPRK, allegedly tried to detain the disgraced commander by executing an order from the head of state Kim Jong-un, Interfax reports. Apparently, the fire was opened by the guards of Vice-Marshal Lee Yong-ho.
"We cannot rule out the possibility that Lee was injured or even killed in a shootout," a source in the South Korean newspaper said.
However, as stressed by another government source, there is no absolute certainty that there was a firefight. "It will probably take us some time to get a clearer picture of what happened," he said.
On the resignation of 69-year-old Lee Yong-ho became known 15 July. It was reported that the cause of his removal was the disease. However, what exactly is sick commander, was not specified. Skeptics immediately doubted that he was removed from power for health reasons.
"It is very likely that this is not a concern for his health, but it was simply removed," said Daniel Pinkston, analyst for North Korea at International Crisis Group, adding that this way, in his opinion, the current DPRK leader Kim Jong-un sent a signal to all those who want to challenge him, and in this case the fact that Lee never directly contradicted the new leader does not matter much.
Lee Yong-ho combined several posts: he was a member of the Bureau of the Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea, was the deputy head of the central military committee of the party with Kim Jong-un. In December 2011, shortly before the death of Kim Jong-il, he was appointed Chief of the General Staff. They also claim that it was Lee Yong-ho who played a central role in the transfer of power in the military field to the First Chairman of the country's Defense Committee, Kim Jong-Yn.
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