Career
He is believed to have been in his 60s when appointed to his position as a general in 2013. In early 2016 he was reported to have been executed on the orders of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. Ri was made a Lieutenant General in April 2002 and given command of the forward-deployed 3rd Army Corps from 2002 to 2007, and later the 5th Army Corps from 2007 to 2012.
He was promoted to chief of the General Staff Operations Bureau in late 2012, in charge of coordinating KPA corps commanders and reporting to the chief of General Staff and the Supreme Command.
Ri was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People"s Army in August 2013 as well as promoted to general around the same time. In early February 2016, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that Ri had recently been executed on charges of corruption and forming a political faction.
