New Delhi:
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has executed five officials for their part in the failed second summit with US President Donald Trump. According to Bloomberg News report North Korea's special envoy to the US and four other North Korean Foreign Ministry officials were executed in March because of the breakdown of the February summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo claimed that Kim had launched another purge of senior officials in an attempt to divert attention from internal turmoil.
“Kim Hyok-chol was investigated and executed at Mirim airport with four foreign ministry officials in March,” an unnamed North Korea source said, according to the newspaper, adding that they were charged with spying for the US.
Kim Hyok-chol had been the counterpart to Stephen Biegun, the US special representative for North Korea, before the summit.
Shin Hye Yong, the interpreter for Kim Jong Un at the Hanoi meeting, is also said to have been detained in a political prison camp, for undermining the authority of Kim Jong Un by making a critical interpretation mistake, news agency Reuters reported.
In 2013, Jang Song Thaek, Kim Jong’s uncle was executed. In 2016, Kim ordered death for Ri Yong-jin, a senior official in the education ministry, for sleeping at a meeting chaired by him.
A year ago, Hyon Yong-Chol, a former North Korean defense chief was executed for disrespectful behavior to Kim at a military rally.
