{"id":115762,"date":"2015-05-13T10:10:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-13T10:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=115762"},"modified":"2015-05-13T10:38:36","modified_gmt":"2015-05-13T10:38:36","slug":"north-korea-defence-chief-executed-for-dozing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=115762","title":{"rendered":"North Korea Defence Chief executed for dozing"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Korea’s Defence Minister Hyon Yong-chol has been executed for showing disloyalty to leader Kim Jong-un, South Korea’s spy agency has told parliament.<\/p>\n

MPs were told Mr Hyon was killed on 30 April by anti-aircraft fire in front of an audience of hundreds, the Yonhap news agency reports.<\/p>\n

It said Mr Hyon had fallen asleep during an event attended by Kim Jong-un and had not carried out instructions.<\/p>\n

The news comes weeks after the reported execution of 15 senior officials.<\/p>\n

Among them were two vice ministers who had challenged Mr Kim over his policies and members of an orchestra, the South’s National Intelligence Agency (NIS) said at the time.<\/p>\n

\"This
Mr Hyon (right, with Kim Jong-un) had been a general since 2010<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mr Kim purged and executed his once-powerful uncle for treachery in 2013.<\/p>\n

Analysts told the BBC that while reshuffles of officials are commonplace in North Korea, the execution of a figure as close to Mr Kim as Mr Hyon was surprising and could give cause for concern about the country’s stability.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mr Hyon is believed to have been a general since 2010, though little is known about him. He served on the committee for late leader Kim Jong-il’s funeral in December 2011, an indication of his growing influence.<\/p>\n

\"North
Kim Jong-un has conducted a series of purges of officials since coming to power<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He was appointed defence minister last year. NK News said he last appeared in state media a day before the alleged execution date.<\/p>\n

Last month, he travelled to Moscow to represent North Korea at a regional security conference, an event the NIS had originally reported that Mr Kim would attend himself.<\/p>\n

Mike Madden of North Korea Leadership Watch told the BBC that if true, the execution was “entirely a demonstration of power and authority”.<\/p>\n

\"Chang
Kim Jong-un’s uncle, Chang Song-thaek, is the most high profile official to have been executed under his rule<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“This is indicative of Kim Jong-un’s impulsive decision-making”, he said, and a sign of a leader who is “not feeling secure”.<\/p>\n

Mr Kim has conducted a series of purges of close officials since becoming North Korea’s leader.<\/p>\n

The most notable was his uncle, Chang Song-thaek – once the country’s second-most powerful figure.<\/p>\n

He was arrested in December 2013 in front of a party meeting, found guilty of treason and immediately executed. The move was widely seen as the young Mr Kim stamping his authority.<\/p>\n

There have been reports before of North Korea using heavy weaponry in executions, including mortars.<\/p>\n

Last month, a rights groups released satellite images it said showed unusual activity on a small arms range at the Kanggon army training area in October 2014.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/figure>\n

The US-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea said the images showed large weaponry facing a very close target, a viewing area and several passenger vehicles.<\/p>\n

It said the “most plausible explanation” for the image was a “gruesome public execution” by anti-aircraft fire.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North Korea’s Defence Minister Hyon Yong-chol has been executed for showing disloyalty to leader Kim Jong-un, South Korea’s spy agency has told parliament. MPs were told Mr Hyon was killed on 30 April by anti-aircraft fire in front of an audience of hundreds, the Yonhap news agency reports. It said Mr Hyon had fallen asleep […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":115765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[38,14],"class_list":["post-115762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-palaver-newspaper","tag-papa-owusu-ankomah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=115762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/115765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=115762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=115762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=115762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}