North Korea‘s vice premier was executed by firing squad this year after showing discontent with the policies of the country’s leader Kim Jong Un, a South Korean media report said on Wednesday.
Yonhap News Agency cited an unnamed source as saying that the 63-year-old Choe Yong Gon, a former delegate for North-South cooperation, was executed, marking another death of a senior official in a series of high-level purges since Kim Jong Un took charge in late 2011.
The report also said Choe, who was appointed vice-premier last year had expressed disagreement with Kim’s forestry policies in May and had shown poor work performance. It provided no further details.
‘Choe Was Not Spotted in Public For Eight Months’
South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles the country’s ties with North Korea, said in a text message received by Reuters that Choe had not been spotted in public for about eight months, and that it was closely monitoring the situation.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service declined to comment on the report to Reuters.
The Work Done By Choe
Choe had worked on inter-Korean affairs in 2000s, leading the North’s delegation in joint economic cooperation committees with South Korea between 2003 and 2005.
He attended the 2004 opening ceremony of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a factory park jointly run with Seoul that is the last remaining joint project of the two countries.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)