朝鲜更换强硬派国防部长

North Korea has replaced its hard-line defense chief with a little-known army general.

Although no official announcement was made, a news report from the official Korean Central News Agency named Jang Jong Nam as among the party officials attending an art performance with leader Kim Jong Un. He was identified as the minister of the People's Armed Forces.

He replaces hawkish General Kim Kyok Sik, who is believed responsible for the 2010 shelling of a South Korean border island that killed four people.

The change comes as the Korean peninsula is emerging from a period of heightened military tensions that followed the North's nuclear test in February.