[Yonhap News Photo]
A North Korean vice premier in charge of education has been executed with two other senior officials sent to re-education camps, the South's unification ministry said Wednesday, amid speculation that leader Kim Jong-un has tightened his reign of terror.
The execution of vice premier Kim Yong-jin, 63, was the latest in a series of executions since Kim Jong-un took power following the sudden death of his father in December 2011.
There have been sporadic reports of purges and executions involving senior party, government and military officials in North Korea. The most notorious case was reported in December 2013, when the reclusive young leader executed his influential uncle Jang Song-thaek on charges including treason and corruption.
Seoul's unification ministry said that Kim Yong-chol, the head of the United Front Department (UFD), and Choe Hwi, a vice department director of the ruling party's central committee, have been sent to rural farms for re-education.
The vice premier was branded as an anti-revolutionary and executed by firing squad last month after he was accused of showing a bad attitude during a parliamentary meeting in June, Yonhap News said, citing an unnamed government official.
Kim Yong-chol, 71, was sent to a rural farm for one month of re-education in mid-July after he was accused of showing a "heavy-handed" attitude and abusing his power, it said, adding the UFD head is believed to have returned to his job. The man once led North Korea's reconnaissance bureau allegedly involved in the sinking of a South Korean warship and shelling of a front-line island in 2010.
Choe Hwi, 62, has been undergoing re-education since late May over his mishandling of the party's work on agitation and promotion, Yonhap said.
Seoul has been closely watching North Korea's internal situation following the high-profile defection of Thae Yong-ho, a senior North Korean diplomat in Britain.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
