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 believed to have been in his 60s when appointed to his position as a general in 2013. He was promoted to
Colonel General (Sangjang) and elected an alternate member of the
Central Committee of the
Workers' Party of Korea in 2010. as well as promoted to general around the same time. In early February 2016, the South Korean news agency
Yonhap News Agency reported that Ri had recently been executed on charges of corruption and forming a political faction. The
unconfirmed rumour was widely circulated in mass media, but it was announced during the May 2016 Party Congress that Ri had been appointed a member of the Central Committee of the North's ruling Workers’ Party, as well as its
Central Military Commission. General Ri was named an alternate member of the
Politburo. As of April 2017, state media identified Ri as first deputy chief of the General Staff and director of the General Operations Bureau of the Korean People's Army. On the 27th of July 2018 KCNA reported that the general was again promoted to 4 star general and again Chief of the General Staff of Korean People Army, until 2019. After that he served as a party department director. He was reelected to the Politburo following the
8th Party Congress in January 2021 as the new minister of Social Security. He was later moved to minister of Defense, joining also the
State Affairs Commission in September of the same year. On 14 April 2022, he was promoted to
Vice Marshal of the KPA by the
Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea. On 31 December 2022, he was appointed as a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, replacing
Pak Jong-chon. He was also reappointed as the Chief of the General Staff on 10 August 2023, succeeding
Park Su-il. == Sanctions ==