North Korea Executed Vice Premier With Anti-Aircraft Guns: Says South Korea
MEP: North Korea has reportedly executed a vice premier for being disrespect during a meeting presided over by leader Kim Jong-un, by a firing squad in July as “an anti-party, anti-revolutionary agitator”, South Korea says.
Seoul’s unification ministry said Kim Yong-jin was one of Pyongyang’s vice premiers and in charge of education.
Since taking power after his father’s death in late 2011, leader Kim is believed to have executed or demoted a number of senior figures in what analysts say is an attempt to tighten his grip on power.
Sources told South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper that Kim Yong-jin made the mistake of falling asleep in a meeting with Mr Kim.
In May, a North Korean military chief said to have been executed was found to be alive and attending official events.
