South Korea’s unification ministry said on August 31, 2016, that North Korea has executed Kim Yong-jin, a North Korean vice premier, by firing squad last month.
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South Korea’s Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee said the government had confirmed the execution of the education official, Kim Yong Jin, “through various channels” but declined to provide details.
The South’s comments follow a news report on Tuesday that said the North had executed two high-ranking officials earlier in the month for disobeying leader Kim Jong Un.
If confirmed, they would be the latest in a series of killings, purges and dismissals carried out since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took power in late 2011.
The unification ministry also said a prominent minister responsible for intelligence and inter-Korean relations, Kim Yong-chol, had been sent for re-education along with another official, named as Choi Hwi, for a month in mid-July.
That confirmation will be important; Seoul in February said North Korean military chief of staff Ri Yong-Gil had been executed – only for Ri to turn up at a party rally in May.
Ri Yong-gil was widely reported to have been executed in February but when he made an appearance at North Korea’s party congress it highlighted just how hard it is to get accurate information from the North.
Vice Premier for Education Kim Yong Jin was sent to the firing squad in July, apparently after slouching at a public event.
It was not immediately clear if Ri Yong Jin and Kim Yong Jin were the same person. The last execution Pyongyang released official information about is thought to be the notorious purge of Kim Jong-un’s own uncle, Chang Song-thaek in 2013.
However, the South Korean government has reported inaccurate developments in the hermit kingdom before – in May, a former North Korean military chief, who Seoul said had been executed, was found to be alive and holding several new senior-level posts.
Kim Yong Jin was promoted to vice premier in 2012 after serving as education minister, according to a South Korean government database on key officials of the North.
The newspaper has also claimed that Hwang Min was executed, “because policy proposals he had pushed for were seen as a direct challenge to the leadership of Kim Jong-un”.
“He incurred the wrath of Kim after he dozed off during a meeting presided over by Kim”. The report said he was arrested on site and later executed after a probe uncovered corruption and other malfeasance.
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The rival Koreas have shared the world’s most heavily fortified border since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, and they bar ordinary citizens from exchanging phone calls, letters and emails without special permission.
