AFP, Seoul :
North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un ordered the execution of 15 senior officials this year, including several who complained about the young leader’s policies, South Korea’s intelligence agency said Wednesday.
Those executed included two vice minister-level officials, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing legislators who attended a briefing by the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
Both were punished for opposing or complaining about Kim’s directives, the legislators said, adding a vice forestry minister was executed for complaining about Kim’s forestation plan.
As well as the 15 senior officials, the NIS said four members of North Korea’s Unhasu Orchestra, with which Kim’s wife, Ri Sol-Ju, had once been a singer, were executed in March.
The NIS said they were executed by firing squad on charges of spying.
In 2013, Japanese and South Korean media reported that a number of members of the orchestra had been executed for violating pornography laws in a bid by Kim to protect his wife’s reputation.
The Kim dynasty has ruled reclusive and impoverished North Korea for more than six decades with an iron fist and a pervasive personality cult.
North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un ordered the execution of 15 senior officials this year, including several who complained about the young leader’s policies, South Korea’s intelligence agency said Wednesday.
Those executed included two vice minister-level officials, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing legislators who attended a briefing by the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
Both were punished for opposing or complaining about Kim’s directives, the legislators said, adding a vice forestry minister was executed for complaining about Kim’s forestation plan.
As well as the 15 senior officials, the NIS said four members of North Korea’s Unhasu Orchestra, with which Kim’s wife, Ri Sol-Ju, had once been a singer, were executed in March.
The NIS said they were executed by firing squad on charges of spying.
In 2013, Japanese and South Korean media reported that a number of members of the orchestra had been executed for violating pornography laws in a bid by Kim to protect his wife’s reputation.
The Kim dynasty has ruled reclusive and impoverished North Korea for more than six decades with an iron fist and a pervasive personality cult.
