Dozens Of North Korean Soldiers Killed After Turning On Each Other In Gun Battle

[Ryan Ruck]

Dozens of North Korean Soldiers Killed After Turning On Each Other In Fierce Gun Battle Following Removal Of Army Chief

July 20, 2012

Dozens of North Korean soldiers are reported to have been killed in a fierce internal gun battle following the removal from office of army chief Ri Yong-Ho.

Bullets smashed into nearby buildings as government soldiers and personal guards of the popular military chief turned on each other in an unprecedented affray in the secretive Stalinist country.

Reports of the gun battle emerged in South Korea today as the North’s state television showed hundreds of uniformed soldiers literally dancing in the streets as they celebrated the elevation of Kim Jong-Un to the role of Supreme Leader and head of the nation’s military.

It has not been established whether Mr Ri was injured or killed in the gun battle, which has been totally ignored by state television.

Celebrations for Kim’s appointment as head of the military are the main focus of news from the capital, Pyongyang.

But one source was quoted as saying that ‘we cannot rule out the possibility that Ri was badly injured or even died during the firefight when his guards possibly tried to protect him.’

Exactly why Mr Ri was removed from the high office remains unclear, even though the North Korean regime insisted that he had been allowed to step down due to illness.

In South Korea, analysts said they had no doubt that Mr Ri had been sacked and might even have had to be physically removed from office.

A South Korean newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, said it had been told by government officials in Seoul that the gun battle erupted when vice-marshal Choe Ryong Hae, director of the People’s Army General Political Bureau, tried to detain Mr Ri.

The officials said the vice marshal had been carrying out Kim Jong-un’s orders to sack him during a struggle for power in the core of Kim’s regime.

Details of the gun battle have yet to emerge, but one report said bullets flew and as many as 36 soldiers – for and against Mr Ri – had died and many others had been injured.


While the North will be determined to suppress information about the reported gun battle, it was eager to show the world what support Kim had received following the ‘important announcement’ earlier in the week that late leader Kim Jong-Il’s son had became head of the military.

Soldiers of the nation’s 1.2 million-strong armed forces were shown dancing in the streets of the capital and singing patriotic songs.

[American Patriot]

So... a coup? Attempt perhaps?

Weird.

(Not unwelcome, but weird. We know now they have different ideas on power there. The more broken up inside, the less they can do to the outside)