North Korea’s army chief of staff Ri Yong-gil has been executed, South Korean media reported. The high ranking official was executed for corruption and forming a political faction.
The report comes at a time of extreme 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 a source as saying.
The National Intelligence Service in Seoul declined to comment on the report, which could not be independently verified.
In May last year, the NIS said Kim had his defence chief, Hyon Yong-chol, killed – 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.
@Agency report.
