N. Korea promotes army officer leading the Yeonpyeong artillery attack

A North Korean army officer responsible for the 2010 shelling of the Yeonpyeong Island has been promoted to a general in charge of the artillery forces of the military.

North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper referred Yun Yong Sik as director of the artillery bureau of the General Staff, while reporting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s inspection of an anti-tank firing contest of a front-line infantry division on Wednesday.

Yun, who was a colonel when he was leading the North’s deadly artillery attack on the South’s western border island in 2010, was confirmed to have been promoted to a lieutenant general during the North Korean leader’s on-site visit for the firing of multiple rocket launchers in April last year.

The new position of the director of the artillery bureau was first confirmed on Wednesday. Yun appears to have been steadily promoted for his contribution to the shelling of the Yeonpyeong Island after Kim Jong Un took power and now be in charge of artillery tactics of the North Korean forces.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s inspection of the anti-tank firing contest is his first military-related public activity of this year. Kim was accompanied by his younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, who first appeared on the firing drill of women’s multiple rocket launcher troops in December last year, implying she is a key person.