North Korea's Kim Jong Un fires top general, orders military to step ...

HONG KONG — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un dismissed his country's top general and ordered the military to step up war preparations “in an offensive way,” state media reported Thursday.

Kim held a meeting of the central military commission in the country's capital, Pyongyang, on Wednesday and discussed plans against its enemy, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. It did not say who the enemy was.

Kim pointed at Seoul and its surrounding area on a map in front of the uniformed generals, pictures released by the agency showed.

Gen. Pak Su Il was also removed from his post as chief of the general staff after just seven months, it said.

Ri Yong Gil, a military veteran who has previously served as defense minister and chief of the general staff, was appointed in his place, the agency added.

It remains to be seen whether Pak's dismissal is significant, according to Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a professor of international relations at King’s College London.

“It would be more important to see whether Pak is losing all his positions or not,” he said. “If yes, I think there is a bigger change.”