By John Power
South Korean media claims Kim Jong-un has executed the army’s chief of the General Staff.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has bolstered his reputation for bloody purges by apparently executing the army’s chief of the General Staff, according to South Korean media.
Yonhap News said that Ri Yong-gil, a top military official, was executed last week for corruption and seeking personal gain.
If true, the execution would add to a considerable list of violent purges, both confirmed and unconfirmed, blamed on the secretive regime.
In 2013, North Korean propaganda famously announced the execution of Kim’s uncle Jang Song-thaek, a high-level official known for close relations with China, for “anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts.”
Last year, the National Intelligence Service, South Korea’s equivalent of the CIA, claimed that Defense Minister Hyon Yong-chol was killed with anti-aircraft fire for insubordination. It later revised its assessment to say he was removed but not necessarily executed. Hyon has not appeared in North Korean state media since.
As with similar claims in the past, there is reason to be skeptical about the latest report of politics by the gun.
Read the full story at The Diplomat