N. Korea reshuffles Cabinet industrial posts

SEOUL, Jan. 6 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has reshuffled five Cabinet officials in
charge of various industrial sectors, Seoul's Unification Ministry said Tuesday.
The shakeup affected the North's ministers of railways, forestry, electricity and
agriculture and one unidentified minister, the ministry said, citing fresh names
that appeared in Pyongyang's New Year media reports.
"We have learned those posts have been replaced at some point in the past year,
but we are not sure whether the changes were made collectively or on several
occasions," ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun told reporters.
North Korean media have been reporting a brisk campaign to rebuild the country's
frail industrial infrastructure, following up on the New Year economic blueprint
rolled out by leader Kim Jong-il. Kim called for increased production in
electricity, coal, agriculture and daily equipment, with an aim to build a
"prosperous and powerful nation" by 2012, the 100th anniversary of his father and
North Korean founder Kim Il-sung's birth.
In the reshuffle, Jon Kil-su was named minister of railways; Kim Kwang-yong
minister of forestry; Ho Taek minister of power industry; Kim Chang-sik minister
of agriculture. Another new minister, Kim Tae-bong, was not fully identified.
Two other ministers were rumored to have been reshuffled, but the Seoul spokesman
could not officially confirm it.
Government sources also say North Korea sacked its pointman on South Korea for
misjudging Seoul's conservative administration. Choe Sung-chol, vice chairman of
the Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, a North Korean state organization handling
inter-Korean affairs under the Workers' Party, was dismissed in early 2008 for
not accurately assessing the South Korea's Lee Myung-bak government, they say.
The spokesman said he heard of the speculation "many times" but had no facts to
confirm Choe's dismissal.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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