Pak Yong-sik (born 1950) is a senior

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

n military officer and

Workers' Party of Korea The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) is the founding and sole ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. Founded in 1949 from the merger of the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party of ...

(WPK) politician, who served as the country's

defence minister A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

from 2015 to 2018. Pak is the 6th Defense Minister appointed by

Kim Jong-un Kim Jong-un (; , ; born 8 January 1982) is a North Korean politician who has been Supreme Leader of North Korea since 2011 and the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is a son of Kim Jong-il, who was North Korea's sec ...

. Pak is a member of the

Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea The Central Military Commission of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (CMC) () is an organ of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) which is responsible for coordinating the Party organizations within the ...

. Pak Yong-sik was appointed vice-director of the Political Department of the

Korean People's Army The Korean People's Army (KPA; ) is the military force of North Korea and the armed wing of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). Under the ''Songun'' policy, it is the central institution of North Korean society. Currently, WPK General Sec ...

sometime before January 2015, having previously served as an official of the Ministry of People's Security. He was promoted to general in April 2015, and shortly thereafter he took over the post of minister of the People's Armed Forces after his predecessor,

Hyon Yong-chol Hyon Yong-chol (; January 11, 1949 – rumored April 30, 2015) was a North Korean general and Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) politician. He served as Minister of Defence from 2014 to 2015. In 2015, he was reportedly removed from his post. Perso ...

, was demoted for insubordination. His promotion was publicly revealed on 11 July, though the exact date of his appointment is unknown. In June 2018, it was announced that he had been sacked about a week before the summit between North Korea and the United States, and was replaced in the position by No Kwang-chol, the first vice minister of the Ministry of People's armed forces.

Summary of service

Assignment history

* April 1999: Major general () () * April 14, 2009: Lieutenant general () () * April 2014: Colonel general () () * 2015: Army general () ()

References

North Korean generals Government ministers of North Korea People from Pyongyang Living people Defence ministers of North Korea 1950 births North Korean individuals subject to the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions {{NorthKorea-politician-stub