TOKYO, May 13 (Yonhap) -- North Korea fired its prime minister last week holding him responsible for making a suggestion that the reclusive communist country introduce an incentive-based capitalistic wage system, a Japanese newspaper said Sunday.
North Korea replaced Premier Pak Pong-ju with Transport Minister Kim Yong-il in April in a sudden reshuffle. The North gave no reasons for the change.
Citing unidentified diplomatic sources, Japan's Mainichi Shimbun newspaper reported that Pak came under attack from party officials in January after suggesting the introduction of an incentive-based wage system to spur labor productivity.
The row apparently discouraged Pak to stay in his job, the paper said.
Mainichi said Pak was already at odds with the military over the North's coal export policy. Pak banned coal exports to China, citing the shortage of fuel for households, but the military wanted coal exports to resume in an apparent bid to earn hard currency to boost the country's defense capability, it said.