North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un, has executed its army chief of staff , South Korean media reported
on Wednesday. Ri Yong-Gil, Chief of the Korean People’s Army General Staff, was
executed earlier this month for forming a political faction and
corruption, Yonhap news agency said, citing a source familiar with North
Korean affairs.
The report came at a time of highly elevated tensions on the divided
Korean peninsula following the North’s recent nuclear test and
long-range rocket launch.
Ri was often seen accompanying Kim Jong-Un on inspection tours, but
his name was conspicuously missing from state media reports of a recent
major party meeting and celebrations over Sunday’s rocket launch.
“The execution… suggests that Kim Jong-Un still feels insecure about
his grip on the country’s powerful military,” Yonhap quoted the source
as saying.
“It shows that Kim’s reign of terror still persists,” the source was quoted as saying.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) in Seoul declined to comment on the report.
In May last year the NIS said Kim had his defence chief, Hyon
Yong-Chol, executed — reportedly with the use of an anti-aircraft gun.
Hyon’s fate was never confirmed by Pyongyang but he has never been
seen or heard of since. Some analysts have suggested he was purged and
imprisoned.
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