SEOUL: North Korea’s parliament named former premier Pak Pong-ju, who was sacked in 2007 for failing to implement economic reforms, as its prime minister on Monday in a move that cements the grip of the ruling Kim dynasty on key posts in the country.
Pak, believed to be in his 70s, is a key ally of Jang Song-thaek, the uncle of the isolated state’s ruler Kim Jong-un, and worked for Jang’s wife, Kim’s aunt Kim Kyong-hui.
“At the session, Deputy Choe Yong-rim was recalled from the post of premier of the DPRK Cabinet and Deputy Pak Pong-ju was elected premier of the DPRK Cabinet,” state news agency KCNA said, referring to a meeting of the rubber-stamp parliament. DPRK is short for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Pak was named to the powerful ruling Workers’ Party of Korea Central Committee political bureau on Sunday and his re-emergence as premier marks a further move by North Korea’s young leader Kim Jong-un to cement power.
The move does however leave Kim, the third of his line to rule the impoverished, nuclear-armed state, dangerously dependent on his aunt and uncle who have reasserted control over the military in a purge.
Pak is a career technocrat, took the post of premier in 2003 to implement an ambitious economic reform policy that allowed autonomy in farm production and pricing liberalisation that was brought in July 2002.
Jang, Kim’s uncle, was also purged and has since been rehabilitated. (Agencies)
