North Korea ousts military official over graft, KCNA says

North Korea's ruling party dismissed senior military official Pak Hui Chol from its central leadership body and referred him to law enforcement over alleged corruption, state news agency KCNA reported early Saturday.

KCNA said Kim Jong Un made comments on the case at a joint meeting of the Workers' Party of Korea and the army in Pyongyang on Friday. It said the meeting was told that Pak, a former vice-director in charge of organizational affairs at the General Political Bureau of the People's Army, and his followers were involved in corruption.

KCNA reported that Pak had received large bribes and led a dissipated life. It quoted Kim as calling the alleged conduct a “political crime” against party discipline and a deliberate act of embezzlement and plunder against the interests of the state and people.

High-profile public condemnation of senior officials by North Korea's top leader is rare in the country's opaque political system.