North Korea powerbroker ‘dismissed’ – BBC News
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Kim Jong-un took over after Kim Jong-il died in 2011.
The latest reports emerged from an intelligence briefing given to South Korean lawmakers.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) made the assessment based on information provided by multiple sources, the South’s Yonhap news agency said.
It also quoted the intelligence service as saying two of Mr Chang’s closest associates had been executed in public in late November.
‘Power behind Kim’
The BBC’s Lucy Williamson in Seoul says the reports are difficult to verify, and South Korea’s spy agency has been proven wrong before.
But if true, the development would mark a significant shift, she adds.
Mr Chang is married to Kim Jong-il’s sister.
He has often been pictured beside the elder Kim’s son Kim Jong-un and was seen by some observers as the power behind him.
Mr Chang climbed through the ranks of the secretive leadership of North Korea’s Korean Workers’ Party (KWP) in the 1970s.
In 1992, he was elected to the party’s Central Committee. But, despite his senior status, he has been targeted by purges in the past.
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