WASHINGTON D.C. – North Korea announced the appointment of a new defense minister, Jang Jong Nam, to take over Kim Kyok Sik–widely described as a “hawk,” and thought to be behind the shelling of Yeonpyong Island in 2010.

The ministry has undergone its third leadership change in the last year and its second in the last seven months.

On May 13, 2013, DPRK state media reportedthat Kim Jong Un attended a concert by the Korean People’s Internal Security Forces’ Song and Dance Ensemble. Included among the officials who watched the concert with him was Gen. Jang Jong Nam, identified as