PYONGYANG - Hyon Yong-chol, newly promoted vice marshal of the Korean People's Army (KPA), has replaced Ri Yong-ho as chief of the General Staff, the official KCNA new agency said Wednesday.

In a report about servicepersons vowing to uphold Kim Jong-un's leadership with loyalty after he was made Marshal of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the KCNA identified Hyon, who attended the ceremony at the April 25 House of Culture, as "chief of the General Staff of the KPA," a post which had been held by Ri until Sunday.

In his congratulatory speech, Hyon said it was the supreme mission, duty and noble obligation of servicepersons, closely united around Marshal Kim Jong-un, to reunify the country and achieve the final victory of the revolutionary cause of Juche.

On Tuesday, KCNA said the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) Central Military Commission and the National Defense Commission had promoted Hyon to vice marshal.

Pyongyang announced on Monday that Vice-Marshal Ri had been "relieved of all posts due to his illness" at a Sunday meeting of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee.

Before the announcement, Ri was also a member of the WPK Central Committee's Political Bureau and its Presidium, as well as vice chairman of the WPK's Central Military Commission.