• Sat   • Mar 8, 2014   • Updated: 11:36pm  Kim Jong-un keeps
the world guessing  PUBLISHED : Saturday, 21 July, 2012, 12:00am
UPDATED : Saturday, 21 July, 2012, 12:00am  A leadership change
in a nation's military should not be cause for concern. However,
North Korea is no ordinary country, making the key appointments
and demotions of the past week a matter of intense speculation.
A dictatorial regime, political opaqueness, one of the world's
biggest standing armies, nuclear and missile programmes that
defy international rules and war-like posturing towards the US,
South Korea and Japan have ensured that there is as much worry
as intrigue. Intentionally or not, it has increased uncertainty
in a region that for too long has lived with instability.
Leader Kim Jong-un has taken the top military position of
marshal, days after army chief Ri Yong-ho was replaced by Hyon
Yong-chol, a little-known general. State media said Ri's
replacement was due to 'illness', a term commonly used by
previous regimes when purging