North Korea’s Kim Jong Un fires vice premier, publicly rebukes officials

In a rare public rebuke of officials in the secretive state, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un fired a senior official tasked with overseeing economic policy and condemned “incompetent” party members, according to state media.

At the start of the first stage of a modernization project at the Ryongsong Machine Complex, Kim fired Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Tuesday.

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Yang was fired “on the spot,” according to KCNA, adding that Kim viewed him as “unfit to be entrusted with heavy duties.”

Kim was quoted in the news as saying, “It was like hitching a cart to a goat… an unintentional mistake in our cadre appointment process.” He continued, “It’s an ox that pulls a cart, not a goat,” adding that.

Yang, a former minister of the machinery industry and current vice premier in charge of the machinery sector, serves on the party’s leadership council, according to South Korea’s state news agency Yonhap.

Yang’s replacement has not been made public.

The removal comes as the Workers’ Party, which is currently in power in North Korea, prepares for its upcoming Ninth Party Congress, which is scheduled to take place soon and sets out major policy objectives.

Kim also criticized officials he claimed lied about the delays in the modernization project during his Monday visit to the industrial machinery complex.

This picture taken on January 19, 2026 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on January 20, 2026 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) attending the completion ceremony for the first phase of renovation and modernisation of the Ryongsong Machine Complex in South Hamgyong Province, North Korea. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP) / SOUTH KOREA OUT / ---EDITORS NOTE--- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT — Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, is seen completing the first phase of the Ryongsong Machine Complex’s first phase of renovation and modernization on Monday [KCNA via KNS/AFP].

The first-stage modernization project of the Ryongsong Machine Complex encountered difficulties, according to Kim, according to KCNA, “due to the irresponsible, rude, and incompetent economic guidance officials.”

He also attacked party members who had “been accustomed to defeatism, irresponsibility, and passiveness” for “too long.”

Kim rebuffed Kim’s claim that current economic policymakers “hardly ever” could steer the country’s industry’s efforts to modernize and upgrade it technologically.

In advance of the Party Congress, Yonhap’s public admonition of officials appeared to tighten discipline among officials, which Yonhap described as “rare.”

In response to what it called “assassination concerns,” Yonhap reported last week that North Korea had replaced its top military personnel in charge of keeping an eye on Kim.

The Guard Office of the ruling party, the Guard Department of the State Affairs Commission, and the Bodyguard Command, all of which were replaced, are said to be the report’s chiefs.

Although uncommon, the public’s denials resemble those of earlier cases like Jang Song Thaek’s uncle, who was hanged in 2013 for allegedly plotting to overthrow his nephew, according to Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies.