'Kim Jong-un appears to have reshuffled top officials'

Seoul, July 1 (IANS) A top South Korean official said on Thursday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to have carried out a reshuffle of top officials at a recent politburo meeting of Pyongyang's ruling Workers' Party.

"There is a possibility of personnel changes involving Ri Pyong-chol, Pak Jong-chon and Choe Sang-gon, as Ri and Pak were not seen participating in the voting process and Choe's seat was left empty," Yonhap News Agency quoted the official from the Unification Ministry as saying.

The Ministry however, said it could not officially confirm the reshuffle.

Video footage aired on Wednesday on Pyingyang's Korean Central Television showed officials at the meeting on Tuesday voting on personnel issues, with the exception of Ri Pyong-chol, vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party, and Pak Jong-chon, chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army.

Choe Sang-gon, director of the central committee's science and education department, was also absent from his seat during the voting.

The North Korean state media had said that Kim discussed "an organisational issue", including the election of new politburo members and a secretary of the party's Central Committee, at the meeting on Tuesday.

But it not provide any further details.