Thread: North Korean Executions

Hyon Song Wol, Kim Jong Un's Ex-Girlfriend, Reportedly Executed For Making Sex Tape
The Huffington Post | By Hunter Stuart
Posted: 08/29/2013 2:52 pm EDT

Unconfirmed reports claim the ex-girlfriend of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was executed by firing squad along with 11 others, after the group allegedly made and sold a sex tape.

Hyon Song Wol, a singer in North Korea's famed Unhasu Orchestra, was killed by machine gun along with 11 other members of the orchestra and the Wangjaesan Light Music Band, another popular state-run music group in North Korea, according to a report in The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea's largest daily newspaper.

The report, which cites an anonymous source in China, says the group was arrested Aug. 17 for filming and selling a pornographic video featuring themselves. The clip reportedly found its way across the border to China. Their families were forced to watch the execution, which took place three days later, and were then sent to the country's notorious prison camps, the source said.

Read the full report at The Chosun Ilbo. http://api.viglink.com/api/click?for...13778095543527

Hyon was a famous performer whose fame peaked around 2005 with the popular song "Excellent Horse-Like Lady." She is said to have dated Kim in the early 2000's, after the young leader returned from boarding school in Switzerland. But she disappeared from the public eye around 2006, near the time Kim Jong Il began grooming his son to be Supreme Leader. (Kim Jong Il reportedly disapproved of the relationship and ordered Hyon to leave the orchestra to keep her away from his son.)

Shortly after the breakup, Hyon is said to have married an officer in the North Korean army and given birth to his son. But after Kim Jong Il's death in late 2011, rumors spread among Pyongyang's military elite that Kim and Hyon had rekindled their romance.

A young woman photographed next to Kim at a concert in Pyongyang last summer was thought by South Korean intelligence officials to have been Hyon. Experts speculated that the photos were circulated as a play to make Kim seem more approachable. However, reports later said the woman was Ri Sol-Ju, Kim's current wife. (Ri was also a member of the Unhasu Orchestra before she married Kim, but it's unlcear if she knew Hyon personally.)

Hyon's ties to Kim raise the question whether it's possible there is an ulterior motive for the execution. In North Korea, executions have been carried out as a way to eliminate perceived threats to the power of the Supreme Leader and his inner circle, but with such a dearth of facts in this case, it is hard to say anything for certain.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_3837098.html

Watch Hyon Song Wol in the video below http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=LB_BHlEcqKM

Hyon Song-wol, 11 Other Musicians Executed Over Bible & Sex Tape Video in N. Korea?! August 29, 2013

In a bizarre international story of love, sex, music and religion in North Korea, a singer named Hyon Song-wol and 11 other musicians were executed over a bible and sex tape video.

Mass news reports are coming across the wire that say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the public execution of his former lover, singer Hyon Song-wol and 11 other entertainers after she and they made a sex tape video together and possessed a bible.

Hyon Song-wol and the others were alleged to have filmed themselves having sex and sold the videos in China and North Korea.

The group was also convicted of possessing copies of the Bible – a serious crime in the region.

Allegedly, not only were the almost dozen musicians and Hyon Song-wol, a singer and member of Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble (a North Korean pop group made popular in the 2000′s), executed by a firing squad but reportedly family and friends were forced to watch her public execution. Members of the Unhasu Orchestra, Wangjaesan Light Band and Moranbong Band, as well as the families of Hyon Song-wol and 11 other entertainers, looked on as a firing squad executed them for their alleged pornography.

The story thickens as reports reveal that the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and Hyon Song-wol actually met as teenagers and held a love affair for some time until Kim’s late father, dictator Kim Jong-il, demanded they end the relationship. Furthermore, Kim Jong Un’s current wife, Ri Sol-ju, once belonged to the same music group, the Unhasu Orchestra, as Kim’s alleged former lover Hyon Song-wol.

http://www.memphisrap.com/2013/08/29....8xNCFuG9.dpuf

WOW....and they thought breaking up with Taylor Swift was rough.

Now Kim Jong-Un executes his late uncle's entire family to prevent 'mutiny'
- including women, children and the ambassadors to Cuba and Malaysia
Children, brothers and grandchildren of Jang Song-Thaek said to be dead
South Korean news agency reporting 'purge of entire family'
Executions mean 'no traces of Kim Jong-Un's uncle will be left'

By Lizzie Parry
PUBLISHED: 21:40 EST, 26 January 2014



Sources told the Yonhap News Agency it is unclear exactly when the family members were killed, but they are believed to have been put to death after Jang's execution on December 12.

'Some relatives were shot to death by pistol in front of other people if they resisted while being dragged out of their apartment homes,' a source told Yonhap.


Among those allegedly executed were Jang's sister Jang Kye-Sun, her husband and Ambassador to Cuba Jon Yong-Jin and Jang's nephew and Ambassador to Malaysia Jang Yong-Chol, as well as his two sons.


The children and grandchildren of Jang's two brothers are also said to have been killed.

One source told the news agency, which is publicly funded and has close links to the South Korean government: 'All relatives of Jang have been put to death, including even children.'

Another source said: 'The executions of Jang's relatives mean that no traces of him should be left.

'The purge of the Jang Song-thaek people is under way on an extensive scale from relatives and low-level officials.'

The family were recalled to the Pyongyang area of the country by Ministry of State troops in early December before being killed, sources said.

Sources told the Yonhap News Agency it is unclear exactly when the family members were killed, but they are believed to have been put to death after Jang's execution on December 12.

'Some relatives were shot to death by pistol in front of other people if they resisted while being dragged out of their apartment homes,' a source told Yonhap.


Among those allegedly executed were Jang's sister Jang Kye-Sun, her husband and Ambassador to Cuba Jon Yong-Jin and Jang's nephew and Ambassador to Malaysia Jang Yong-Chol, as well as his two sons.


The children and grandchildren of Jang's two brothers are also said to have been killed.

One source told the news agency, which is publicly funded and has close links to the South Korean government: 'All relatives of Jang have been put to death, including even children.'

Another source said: 'The executions of Jang's relatives mean that no traces of him should be left. The purge of the Jang Song-thaek people is under way on an extensive scale from relatives and low-level officials.'

The family were recalled to the Pyongyang area of the country by Ministry of State troops in early December before being killed, sources said.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ong-Thaek.html

KIM JONG-UN'S BRUTAL RULE

Since Kim Jong-Un came to power in April 2012 he has shown himself to be a brutal tyrant, having executed or demoted a long list of people he has deemed a threat.

According to newspaper Chosun Ilbo, Ri Yong-ho, Kim Yong-chun, U Tong-chuk, and Kim Jong-gak, all part of his father Kim Jong-il's inner circle, were handpicked to groom the 31-year-old leader, but have since disappeared or been demoted.

As well as his uncle, Jang Song-Thaek, other high-ranking members of the military have been purged, including three defence ministers and three chiefs of the army's general staff.

Kim Chol, the vice minister of the army, was reportedly put to death in October 2012 by soldiers firing mortar rounds at him.

In August last year, members of a female musical group, Unhasu Orchestra — which included his ex-girlfriend — were reportedly publicly machine-gunned apparently for watching pornography and filming themselves naked.

There are said to have been between 40 to 80 public mass executions in North Korea in 2013

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz2rdpZz9EN
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Kim Jong-un calls for execution of 33 Christians
By Cheryl K. Chumley The Washington Times Thursday, March 6, 2014

North Korea tyrant Kim Jong-un has reportedly ordered that 33 Christians believed to be working alongside South Korean Baptist missionary Kim Jung-wook be put to death. The South Korean missionary — who was arrested last year — and his accomplices have reportedly started 500 or so underground churches, Breitbart reported.

South Korean press cited by The Daily Mail reported that Mr. Kim has charged that the 33 are attempting to overthrow the government — the same accusation that led to the execution of the North Korean leader’s uncle, Jang Song-thaek, and all Mr. Jang’s relatives.

The missionary accomplices will be put to death in a cell of the State Security Department, The Daily Mail reported. Their announced executions come just a day after reports surfaced that North Korea’s Number Two, Choe Ryong Hae, hasn’t been seen at several recent public events he normally would have attended — fueling talk that perhaps he’s the latest to be purged from Mr. Kim’s government.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...#ixzz2vRC9k3Rl


Friday, March 7, 2014
They'll Be Dead by Morning
("What Difference Will it Make?")

**Warning: This post may make you feel bad.

**Warning: That feeling may be appropriate.

There are moments in life that feel like a swift slap in the face.

No one courts that.

No one wants to feel that pain.

But, if it’s a slap that rearranges your priorities to align with God’s heart, then you will thank God even for that bracing offense. I received that slap today when I read the Washington Times news item that Kim Jong-un has ordered the execution of 33 Christians reported to have been part of planting over 500 underground churches in North Korea. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...33-christians/

I imagined thirty-three of my Christian friends executed for leading people to Christ, facilitating worship, praying, or offering praise to God.
I would be horrified, sad, and angry devastated but I would also know that God has the last word on their lives not Kim Jong-un or the evil power behind him. Still, I would want their deaths to motivate the church of Christ.

I would want their deaths to galvanize other believers to put feet to their own faith,
To fuel their passion for Christ,
To remember to pray for those who suffer,
To spread God’s word with more zeal, persistence, and creativity than ever before.

While we in the West argue over worship styles,
sleep in when there’s a visiting preacher,
bemoan having to endure a boring prayer request or off-key soloist,
serve up the pastor’s sermon over lunch,
or sit home and judge the church unworthy of our attendance altogether
there are other brothers and sisters
gasping their way to every precious moment
when they can gather, in hiding, with other precious believers
and hear a whispered message from God,
bathe in the reading of His word,
and pray with passion and tears for strength to endure
and the courage to continue speaking the truth under threat of death.

God placed us all where we are.
He assigned us to our stations.
There is no guilt in being born in the land of the free as opposed to a country under harsh rule.
But there is guilt if we use our freedom to indulge our petty preferences,
to pad our comfort,
to drift through this dark world basking in our own light
rather than using it to serve those who waste away in prison cells wondering if they’ve been forgotten
or their families left to struggle alone with hunger, fear, and lonliness,
or those serving the Lord in dark, dark places who need our prayers for their protection, deliverance, courage, and strength.

This blog is just a bunch of words. It costs me absolutely nothing to write. I am free here to say whatever I want without fear that it will cost me or my loved ones their lives. But the words I speak on my knees have the power to move forces in the heavenly realm and make a difference for those who know the names and faces of those 33 facing execution, to comfort those who know their touch, their dreams, the plans they had for this life that will end any minute now and to strengthen those who pick up the bloody batons these 33 will be forced to release and continue to build the kingdom of Christ in lands where the enemy of God rules.

Worship will be different for me this week, with the report of 33 gunshots bouncing around the inner chamber of my soul

reminding me that we aren’t home yet.

http://loristanleyroeleveld.blogspot...-what.html?m=1

UN: North Korea Commits “Unspeakable Atrocities”
February 17, 2014, 11:55 am ET by Sarah Childress

The North Korean government abuses its people for even the smallest criticism of the state, according to a new United Nations report released on Monday. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/P...14255&LangID=E

The report, based on survivor and witness testimony gathered by a human-rights commission over the past year, said the atrocities arise from policies set “at the highest level of state.”

Rape, torture, forced abortions, starvation, enslavement and murder are part of North Korean government’s effort to control its people and crush dissent, the commission found. It said it planned to refer the allegations to the International Criminal Court. “The key to the political system is the vast political and security apparatus that strategically uses surveillance, coercion, fear and punishment to preclude the expression of any dissent,” the report said.

But as FRONTLINE reported in last month’s Secret State of North Korea, maintaining control in the isolated country has become more difficult as new technology, like cellphones and illicit flash drives with Western television shows, give ordinary North Koreans a glimpse into another world. People have begun to fight back against the regime in small but determined ways. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...of-north-korea

In response, Kim Jong-un, who succeeded his father Kim Jong-il in 2011, has continued his father Kim Jong-il’s brutal policies, punishing political offenders by sending generations of their families to prison camps, and kidnapping and torturing defectors. http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/01/21/n...s-abusive-rule

As many as 200,000 people are believed to languish in North Korean prison camps, accused of betraying the regime. Many were caught trying to defect or were overheard criticizing the current leadership. Others were imprisoned just for being related to someone the state considered a threat. The U.N. commission found that while many abuses happen in these camps, “gross violations” also happened in the ordinary prison system.

Jeong Kwang Il was a prison-camp survivor who testified before the commission. A former North Korean businessman, Jeong held a position of some prominence in North Korea, even traveling abroad for work. For years, he never thought about defecting. Then, in 1999, he says a former schoolmate turned against him and reported him to officials for being a spy. In August 2013, he told FRONTLINE about how he was arrested, tortured, and ultimately — perhaps inexplicably — released.

After years of imprisonment, an official from North Korea’s state security office visited Jeong at the camp, he said. For some reason, the regime had decided he wasn’t a spy after all. “He said to me, ‘If you go out into society now you can live well without getting into trouble, right?’ So I said, ‘Yes, I’ll do well.’”

Almost immediately upon his release, Jeong defected. Now, he works against the regime, smuggling in Western and South Korean television shows and radios. In the clip below, Jeong plans another trip across the border. Follow his journey, and then watch the full film anytime here.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...f-north-korea/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...le-atrocities/

North Korea is warning that the release of the new Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy 'The Interview', which is about a plot to assassinate leader Kim Jong Un, would be an "act of war."

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea is warning that the release of a new American comedy about a plot to assassinate leader Kim Jong Un would be an "act of war."

If the U.S. government doesn't block the movie's release, it will face "stern" and "merciless" retaliation, an unidentified spokesman for North Korea's Foreign Ministry said in state media Wednesday.

He didn't mention the movie by name but was clearly referring to "The Interview," which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco as a producer and talk-show host who land an exclusive interview with the North Korean dictator and are then asked by the CIA to assassinate him.

The "reckless U.S. provocative insanity" of mobilizing a "gangster filmmaker" to challenge the North's leadership is triggering "a gust of hatred and rage" among North Korean people and soldiers, the spokesman said, in typically heated propaganda language.

The film's release would be considered an "act of war that we will never tolerate," he said.

With no independent press of its own, North Korea often holds foreign governments responsible for the content of their media. Pyongyang regularly warns Seoul to prevent its conservative press from mocking or criticizing its leadership, something banned within authoritarian North Korea, where the Kim family is revered.

Trailers have been released for the movie, which is set to hit U.S. theaters in October.

The current leader's late father, Kim Jong Il, was a noted movie buff, lauded in the North for writing a treatise on film. He also ordered the kidnapping of prolific South Korean director and producer Shin Sang-ok in 1978, who then spent years making movies for Kim before escaping, Shin said.

A spokesman for "The Interview" studio Sony Pictures didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, but the film's co-writer, co-director and co-star mocked the controversy on Twitter.

"Apparently, Kim Jong Un plans on watching 'The Interview,'" Seth Rogen tweeted last Friday. "I hope he likes it!!"

The "Knocked Up" and "Neighbors" funnyman later posted Wednesday that "people don't usually wanna kill me for one of my movies until after they've paid 12 bucks for it."

It's not the first time that North Korean leadership has served as comic fodder: a puppet rendition of Kim Jong Il served as the villain in the 2004 film "Team America: World Police," and comedians Margaret Cho and Bobby Lee respectively impersonated the North Korean dictator on the NBC comedy series "30 Rock" and the Fox sketch show "MADtv."

Randall Park, a Korean-American actor, is portraying Kim Jong Un in "The Interview."

http://news.yahoo.com/north-koreas-u...073047684.html

BREAKING: North Korea Overthrows Dictator Kim Jong-un
Oct 4, 2014

North Korea’s Organization and Guidance Department (OGD), the country’s most powerful group of officials, has stopped taking orders from Kim Jong-un. amid reports that the dictator has been overthrown.

Kim Jong-un has been missing for over a week and authorities originally tried to cover-up his absence by claiming he was recovering from ankle surgery.

According to a think tank in Seoul formed by North Korean defectors, the dictator’s sister is currently running the country, making all important decisions in the wake of her brother’s disappearance.

A former North Korean counter-intelligence officer, Jang Jin-sung, has claimed that Kim Jong-Un is no longer in control of the nation and is now just a ‘puppet leader’.

Jin-sung believes that the current North Korean regime will collapse in the near future and that Kim Jong-Un could be replaced by one of his brothers, either Kim Jong-nam, 43, or Kim Jong-chul, 33.

“North Korea is currently embroiled in a sort of civil war”, he said in his speech.

Some officials want to keep the communist status quo, he said, others are open to elements of capitalism being introduced.
The capital of North Korea, Pyongyang, has been placed on lockdown with even the elite banned from entering or leaving.

Officials say that this kind of measure is only put in place when a coup has taken place – or is suspected.

http://www.thepcmdgazette.com/news/b...r-kim-jong-un/

South, North Korea ships fire shots at disputed sea border
Reuters - 1 day ago

SEOUL - A South Korean naval ship fired warning shots on Tuesday after a North Korean patrol boat crossed a disputed sea border off the peninsula's west coast and fired shots back before retreating, a South Korean defense official said.

There were no casualties on the South Korean side and none of the shots by either side was aimed at the other's vessel, he told Reuters.

It was the latest in a series of similar altercations near Yeonpyeong island, which was bombed by the North in 2010 killing four people, including two civilians.

The area near Yeonpyeong has been the scene of clashes in the past that killed scores of sailors on both sides, with North Korean vessels frequently crossing the so-called Northern Limit Line, which it refuses to recognize as the maritime border.

The standoff came after a surprise visit by the highest-level delegation by North Korea at the weekend, comprised of a top military aide to the North's leader, Kim Jong Un, who met South Korean officials.

They agreed to resume dialogue on improving ties that had been cut off in February, raising hope for a breakthrough in the relationship between the rivals which remain in a technical state of war under a truce ending their 1950-53 war.

In 2010, a South Korean navy ship patrolling the area was hit and sunk in a torpedo attack killing 46 of the sailors on board. South Korea blames the North for the attack but Pyongyang denies involvement.

The attack led to the South cutting off all political and commercial exchange with the North except for a factory zone in the North Korean city of Kaesong where South Korean companies operate manufacturing facilities.

In recent years, Seoul has allowed small private groups to visit the North, mostly on humanitarian or religious trips.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/...der/ar-BB7VNBE

Originally Posted by Jolie Rouge

BREAKING: North Korea Overthrows Dictator Kim Jong-un
Oct 4, 2014

Kim Jong-un has been missing for over a week and authorities originally tried to cover-up his absence by claiming he was recovering from ankle surgery.

http://www.thepcmdgazette.com/news/b...r-kim-jong-un/

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un has made his first public appearance in five weeks, state media reported Tuesday, ending an absence that drove a frenzy of global speculation that something was amiss with the country's most powerful person.

The sudden resumption of the "field guidance" tours that had been a regular part of Kim's public persona before he stopped showing up in media reports for 40 days allowed the country's massive propaganda apparatus to resume doing what it does best -- glorify the third generation of the Kim family to rule -- and will tamp down, at least for the moment, rumors of coups and serious health problems.

Kim, shown in the North's leading newspaper smiling and walking with a cane, toured the newly built Wisong Scientists Residential District and another new institute.

He "took necessary steps with loving care" and vowed to turn the area into a "world-class science city," a dispatch early Tuesday from the official Korean Central News Agency said in typical fawning style. The North didn't say when the visit happened, nor did it address the leader's health.

Before Tuesday's dispatch, Kim had last been seen in the media at a Sept. 3 concert.

Foreign media had no trouble filling the void that followed. From "Saturday Night Live" spoofs to the wild theories of journalists across the globe trying to parse his growing absence from the public eye, Kim captured nearly as many headlines as he did when he threatened to nuke his enemies last year.

This bewildering ability to command attention by doing nothing says a lot about the North's propaganda focus on Kim as the center of everything. Remove for 40 days the sun around which that propaganda spins and the international media, both traditional and social, exploded with curiosity.

And while there was plenty of informed analysis from experts and frequent visitors to Pyongyang that said it probably wasn't anything that serious, there seemed to be even more thinly sourced speculation.

Kim was, by turns, reported to be suffering from gout, from diabetes, from a brain hemorrhage, from a heart ailment, from a leg injury that required surgery from a French doctor, from mental illness or, according to a head-turning British report, from a cheese addiction. There were rumors of coups.

The speculation was fed by Kim missing several high-profile events that he normally attends and his description in an official documentary last month as experiencing "discomfort." Archive footage from August showed him overweight and limping.

The South Korean government saw no signs to indicate any major problems.

At a South Korean parliamentary hearing Monday, Choi Yoon-hee, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a lawmaker that whatever health problems Kim might have, they "are not severe enough to disrupt his status as the ruler of the country."

No unusual troop movements or other signs of a possible coup have emerged. Diplomacy at the highest level has continued: Three members of his inner circle made a surprise visit to the South, something analysts say would be impossible without the leader's blessing. Foreign tourists and aid workers are still traveling to the North, and there have been no reports of new restrictions or warnings for diplomats.

There's also nothing particularly unusual about North Korean leaders laying low for extended periods. Kim's grandfather and late father, Kim Jong Il, both took long, unexplained breaks from work, often leading to similar rumors in Seoul and beyond of coups and sudden death. Kim Jong Un, who seems to genuinely like being at the center of things, took off without a word for three weeks in 2012.

The recent absence was, in part, "probably an attention-getting device (and it certainly works)," Bruce Cumings, an expert on Korea at the University of Chicago, said in an email. "The North has been on a diplomatic offensive in Europe and elsewhere, it feels isolated - and is, if we're talking about relations with Washington. All this puts them back on the front page."

Part of the interest in Kim's absence also stemmed from worries about what would happen to the country if the leader died without securing a succession.

Kim Jong Un's two older brothers, for whatever reasons, were deemed unfit to rule by Kim Jong Il, and little is known about his sister.

Kim reportedly does have a direct heir who may one day extend the Kim dynasty into a fourth generation. Probably not soon, though. She's believed to be a toddler.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-ko...ance-in-weeks/

He's baaaack ....

10 North Korean officials executed by firing squad
... for watching South Korean soap operas and other "offenses"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...est-purge.html

North Korean Officials Executed for Watching South Korean Soap Operas?
Wednesday, 29 Oct 2014 05:44 PM
By Jonna Lorenz

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly executed 10 senior officials for offenses including graft and watching South Korean soap operas. Bloomberg News reported the executions appear to be part of a movement to remove any influence of Kim’s uncle, Jang Song Thaek, who was executed last year.

The move seems to reflect a continuation of practices held since North Korea was founded in 1948. Kim Jong Un’s father and grandfather also executed people they perceived as a threat to their leadership. “North Korea’s history is a history of purges,” Oh Gyeong Seob, a North Korea researcher at the Sejong Institute near Seoul, told Bloomberg. “And purges are increasing in frequency under Kim Jong Un. It’s a sign he is resorting to the politics of fear to cope with his sense of insecurity.”

The 10 officials were executed by firing squad, bringing the total number executed this year to 50, according to The Telegraph.

Along with being accused of watching banned South Korean soap operas, the officials also faced charges of bribery and womanizing, according to The Independent.

Television and media are strictly controlled in North Korea. "The more people are exposed to such media the more likely they are to become disillusioned with the regime and start wanting to live differently,” a North Korean defector known as “Mr. Chung” said, according to The Independent.

http://www.Newsmax.com/TheWire/north...#ixzz3Ha2gU5YH

North Korea's Kim ordered 15 executions this year




North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the execution of 15 senior officials this year as punishment for challenging his authority, South Korea's spy agency told a closed-door parliament meeting on Wednesday.

A vice minister for forestry was one of the officials executed for complaining about a state policy, a member of parliament's intelligence committee, Shin Kyung-min, quoted an unnamed National Intelligence Service official as saying.

"Excuses or reasoning doesn't work for Kim Jong Un, and his style of rule is to push through everything, and if there's any objection, he takes that as a challenge to authority and comes back with execution as a showcase," Shin said.

"In the four months this year, fifteen senior officials are said to have been executed," Shin cited the intelligence official as saying, according to his office.

In 2013, Kim purged and executed his uncle, Jang Song Thaek, once considered the second most powerful man in Pyongyang's leadership circle, for corruption and committing crimes damaging to the economy, along with a group of officials close to him.

Kim has also reshuffled close aides and senior officials repeatedly since taking office.

South Korea's spy agency also expected Kim to travel to Moscow this month to attend an event marking the end of World War Two in Europe, although there was no independent confirmation of the plan, Shin said after the spy agency briefing.

North Korea has not booked a hotel in Moscow for Kim's stay, but the country's embassy was equipped to accommodate its leader, Shin said, quoting the spy agency official.

The visit would be Kim's first overseas trip since he took power in 2011 after the death of his father.

Russia has said Kim would attend the May 9 event marking the 70th anniversary of the war's end in Europe, although officials in Seoul have cautioned that there was no official confirmation from the North.

Some analysts have questioned whether Kim, believed to be in his early 30s, would choose for his first overseas visit an event where he would share the stage with several leaders and have less control over proceedings than in a two-way summit.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye has decided not to attend the function. U.S. President Barack Obama and many European leaders are staying away, but Chinese President Xi Jinping and the heads of many former Soviet republics are expected to attend.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/...d=ansnewsreu11