Seoul’s Unification Ministry is staying quiet on the rumored replacement of a ranking North Korean official handling inter-Korean relations. 

Ministry spokesman Lee Sang-min declined to comment on the matter during a regular media briefing on Wednesday when asked whether Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country, was recently replaced. 

The spokesman said Ri appeared in an official photo of the plenary meeting of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee that took place on April tenth, but added the South Korean government has nothing to officially verify regarding his status since then. 

The spokesman also refrained from commenting on whether Pyongyang responded to Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul’s greeting message to Ri during his visit to the joint liaison office in the North Korean city of Gaeseong earlier this month.