North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears to be escalating efforts to keep the country under his thumb, with latest reports indicating that one long-serving key official has been executed and others sent for re-education.
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South Korea’s Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon Hee said the government had confirmed the execution of education official Kim Yong Jin, “through various channels”, but declined to give details.
The anonymous official who spoke to the Times also said an investigation of Yong-jin prompted by the “disrespectful” ordeal led to the findings that he was an “anti-party reactionary” and “guilty of ‘modern-day factionalism.'” According to the anonymous official, a firing squad executed Yong-jin.
According to the reports that said by the officials to media, “Kim Yong-Jin was criticized for his bad sitting posture on the platform during an assembly of parliament of North Korea and then went through a questioning session that exposed others”.
Executions are widely considered a political tool for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to consolidate his hold on power.
The latest alleged execution comes after North Korea’s deputy ambassador in London reportedly defected and arrived in South Korea with his family.
Kim Yong Jin was executed for not keeping his posture upright at a public event, a South Korean government official told Reuters.
Last year, South Korea’s spy agency said Kim had his defense chief executed with an anti-aircraft gun for complaining about him and sleeping during a meeting he had presided over.
It is not often for North Korea to publicly announce someone’s execution, although it was confirmed that the dictator’s uncle, along with Jang Song Thaek, the second-most powerful man in the state were indeed killed.
As for the other official, the outlet claims he was accused of proposing policies that were a “direct challenge” to Kim’s leadership. He was executed by firing squad in July, the agency said.
Building a new submarine fleet seems to be on top of the priority list for North Korea.
North Korea said in the statement human rights problems do not exist in the country and that South Korean President Park Geun-hye should instead apologize for the “human rights issues” of South Korea.
Due to the secretive nature of the North Korean regime such stories are hard to verify but numerous reports of similar gruesome executions have filtered out over the years.
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North Korea test fired a submarine-based ballistic missile (SLBM) from its east coast on Wednesday, CNN reports quoting South Korean authorities.
