Gen. Pak Yong-sik has replaced Hyon Yong-chol, who was executed in April, as North Korea's new armed forces minister, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

KCNA identified Pak as the new armed forces minister when he led a North Korean military delegation in talks with Laotian top brass in Pyongyang on Saturday.

Pak was promoted to lieutenant general on April 15, 2009, the birthday of regime founder Kim Il-sung. He was promoted to colonel general in April 2014 and appointed deputy chief of the Army politburo's organizations department. He was promoted to full genera l on June 29 this year after Hyon was executed.

Chung Sung-jang of the Sejong Institute here said, "The armed forces minister, who is in charge of the Army's external affairs and welfare, has been replaced five times since Kim Jong-un took power. This shows how unstable the status of North Korean military leaders is."

