NKorea executes defense chief for treason
Print Edition
North Korea executed its defense chief by putting him in front of an anti-aircraft gun at a firing range, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service told lawmakers, making it the latest in a series of high-level purges since Kim Jong Un took charge.
Hyon Yong Chol, who headed the country’s military, was charged with treason, including disobeying Kim and falling asleep during an event at which North Korea’s young leader was present, according to South Korean lawmakers briefed in a closed-door meeting with the spy agency yesterday.
His execution was watched by hundreds of people, according to NIS intelligence.
“The NIS official said it had been confirmed by multiple sources. It is still just intelligence, but he said they were confident,” said Shin Kyoung-min, a lawmaker and member of the opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, who attended the briefing.
Experts on North Korea said there was no sign of instability in Pyongyang.
Kim had previously ordered the execution of 15 senior officials this year as punishment for challenging his authority, according to the NIS. In all, some 70 officials have been executed since Kim took over after his father’s death in 2011, Yonhap news agency cited the NIS as saying.
The lawmakers said Hyon, 66, was executed at a firing range at the Kanggon Military Training Area, 22 kilometers north of Pyongyang, the NIS claimed.
Hyon was said to have shown disrespect to Kim by dozing off at a military event, the lawmakers said, citing the agency briefing.
Hyon was also believed to have voiced complaints against Kim and had not followed his orders several times, according to the lawmakers.
He was arrested in late April and executed three days later without legal proceedings, the NIS told lawmakers.
Last month, Hyon travelled to Moscow, where he spoke at a security conference. He was reported by North Korean state media to have appeared at an event in late April — shortly before the NIS told lawmakers he was executed — an outward indication that all was normal.
The current leader is the third generation of the Kim family that has ruled with near-absolute power since the country was formed in 1948.
Pyongyang’s military leadership has been in a state of perpetual reshuffle since Kim Jong Un took power. He has changed his armed forces chief four times since coming to power, while his father Kim Jong Il, who ruled the country for almost two decades, replaced his chief just three times.
The South Korean spy agency told lawmakers that Ma Won Chun, known as North Korea’s chief architect of new infrastructure under Kim, was also purged or punished, the lawmakers said. Ma also once served as vice director of the Finance and Accounting Department in the ruling Workers’ Party and, until recently, was effectively the government’s money man.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
