In January 2016, he was appointed the 1st Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army and the Director-General of Operations Department, succeeding Kim Chun-sam.

At the 5th Plenary Session of the 7th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea held in December 2019, he was elected as a member of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and appointed Director General of the Reconnaissance General Bureau to succeed Jang Gil-sung.

[1] Afterwards, he was promoted to a rank in the Korean People's Army and was elected a member of the Party Central Military Commission.

In 2020, he was promoted to general of the Korean People's Army, and in 2021 he was appointed a candidate member of the Politburo of the Party Central Committee, and in September he was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army.

[2] In 2015, he served as a member of the funeral committee at the time of the death of Ri Eul-Seol and Kim Yang-Gun.