North Korea’s party plenary meeting to close out the year approved a vast reshuffle of officials, promoting twice as many as during the previous plenum in June 2022. This included the names of 53 officials revealed in state media, as well as several unannounced promotions. 

This reshuffle impacted two main areas: the military and regional heads of party and government. Most notably, leader Kim Jong Un sacked the country’s second-highest military official Pak Jong Chon and installed the defense minister in his place.

The changes to military personnel likely related to Kim’s call for