Kim slammed ‘incompetent’ party members for delaying government projects ahead of a key ruling party meeting.
Published on January 20, 2026
Leader of North Korea Kim Jong Un Jong Yoo In a rare public rebuke of officials in the secretive state, a senior official in charge of economic policy has been fired and “incompetent” party members have been denounced, according to state media.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Tuesday that Kim had dismissed Vice-Premier Yang Sung-ho during an opening ceremony for the first phase of the modernization project at the Ryongsong Machine Complex.
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The North Korean leader fired Yang “on the spot”, KCNA said, saying Kim deemed the vice-premier “unfit to be entrusted with heavy duties”.
“Simply put, it was like hitching a ride to a goat – an accidental mistake in our cadre recruitment process,” Kim said in a news report. “After all, it is the ox that pulls the cart, not the goat,” he added.
According to South Korea’s state news agency Yonhap, Yang, a former machinery industry minister who has been promoted to vice president in charge of the machinery sector, is also an alternate member of the party’s leadership council.
Yang’s replacement has not been announced.
The move comes as North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party prepares for its ninth party congress, which is expected to convene soon to set major policy goals for the country.
During a visit to the Industrial Machinery Complex on Monday, Kim also slammed officials responsible for delays in the modernization project.
“Due to irresponsible, rude and incompetent economic guidance officials, the first phase modernization project of the Ryongsong Machine Complex ran into difficulties,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying.
He also lashed out at party members who had been “habituated to defeatism, irresponsibility and passivity” for “too long”.
Kim warned that the current economic policymakers could “steer hard on the task of fully adjusting and technologically upgrading the country’s industry”.
The officials’ public notice, described by Yonhap as “rare,” appeared to be aimed at tightening discipline among officials ahead of the party congress.
Last week, Yonhap reported that North Korea had replaced its top military officers in charge of protecting Kim over what it described as an “assassination concern.”
According to reports, the heads of North Korea’s three major units, the ruling party’s Guard Office, the State Affairs Commission’s Guard Division and the Bodyguard Command, were all transferred.
Although rare, public dismissals mirror past cases, such as that of Jang Song Thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed in 2013 after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew, said Yang Moo-jin of North Korea University.
North Korean leaders are “using public responsibility to warn party officials”, Yang told the AFP news agency.