Ri Son Gwon out at DPRK Reunification Office?

(Source- Channel A News Top Ten 5.22) Ri Son Gwon to top South Korean business leaders visiting North Korea in September 2018, on a trip with President Moon Jae In: Did the nengmyun (North Korean cold noodle dish) go down your throat?

Ri Son Gwon, Minister of the Motherland Peaceful Unification Committee of the DPRK, appears to have been ousted according to official sources in the ROK Unification Ministry. He was observed in a commemorative photograph taken on April 10, 2019, of members of the Plenary Meeting of the DPRK Party Central Committee. Beyond this the South Korean Unification Ministry spokesperson could not provide additional confirmation. South Korean Unification Minister, Kim Yeon Chol, recently visited the Kaesong Liaison Office, May 8, to discuss arrangements for an upcoming meeting with South Korean business leaders who wish to visit their inactive factory facilities in Kaesong, North Korea. His counterpart Ri Son Gwon was not present, so he asked the North Korean side to convey his greetings. According to undisclosed intelligence sources, it is believed the replacement for Ri may be Im Yong Chol (림용철).

https://www.mk.co.kr/news/politics/view/2019/05/337308/

(Source- News TVChosun- 6.1.2018) Ri Son Gwon to South Korean reporters at Panmunjeom: In the future don't ask questions out of tenor with the times, I will consider them rude.

According to Channel A Top Ten news analysts, the continued non-appearance of Ri Son Gwon in public events is related to the debacle at the Hanoi summit and the fall from grace of Kim Yong Chol, who was reported on April 24, to have been replaced as the Unification Front chief. Kim Yong Chol was regarded as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's counterpart in denuclearization negotiations until the break at the second US- North Korean summit in Hanoi. According to reports, there was little love lost between Kim Yong Chol and Mike Pompeo. Kim Yong Chol did not attend the summit in Vladivostock with the Russian president Vladimir Putin. Ri Son Gwon was regarded as Kim Yong Chol's right hand, and was responsible for conducting negotiations with South Korea. The disappearance from public view of Ri is regarded as further evidence of turmoil, if not an all out purge, in North Korea's management of foreign affairs and in particular reflects a shift of authority from the Unification Front to the Foreign Office of North Korea where Choe Son Hui has apparently taken the leading role in dealings with US since the break at Hanoi.