Kim Jong Un Fires Vice Premier, Compares Him to a Goat in Rare Public Rebuke

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has dismissed Vice Premier Yang Sung Ho, publicly criticizing him as “irresponsible” and likening him to a goat, state media reported Tuesday. The rare public reprimand came during the opening of a critical industrial machinery complex.

Vice Premier Yang was removed “on the spot,” according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials” and urged Yang to resign voluntarily.

“Please, Comrade Vice Premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said.

“He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was like hitching a cart to a goat — an accidental mistake in our cadre appointment process. After all, it is an ox that pulls a cart, not a goat,” the North Korean leader added.

During his tour of the South Hamgyong Province complex, Kim scolded cadres for being “accustomed to defeatism, irresponsibility and passiveness” and urged a rapid modernization of the country’s economy. KCNA quoted him as saying Yang was “unfit to be entrusted with heavy duties.”

North Korea’s economy remains under strain due to chronic food shortages, natural disasters, and decades of mismanagement, compounded by international sanctions over its weapons programs. The new machinery complex is part of a manufacturing belt accounting for about 16 percent of the country’s machinery output, according to Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies.

Analysts note that Kim’s public rebuke echoes past high-profile purges, such as the execution of his uncle Jang Song Thaek in 2013, and is seen as a “shock tactic to warn party officials.” Pyongyang is reportedly preparing for its first ruling party congress in five years, with economic policy, defense, and military planning expected to be key topics.

Last month, Kim vowed to root out “evil” at a major meeting of top officials. State media cited “numerous recent deviations in discipline,” a euphemism for corruption, as part of the rationale for his latest crackdown.

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