North Korean state media’s report on last week’s conference of Korean War veterans underlined a leadership change that has become increasingly apparent in recent months: Premier Kim Tok Hun now formally ranks as the top official below leader Kim Jong Un.

Kim Tok Hun’s rise was already visible in May and appears to have stabilized at party meetings in June. State media’s announcement on the opening of the June plenum listed Kim Tok Hun above Choe Ryong Hae for the first time.

And yet curiously, the positions of Kim and Choe