North Korea confirms anti-aircraft gun execution of defence chief

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Intelligence officials have admitted the brutal killing of Hyon Yong Chol
Defence Minister was shot with an anti-aircraft gun from close range in May
He was killed after falling asleep in meetings and talking back to leader
Officials killed him with an ZPU-4 anti-aircraft gun in front of hundreds of bloodthirsty officials at a military camp near the capital

Published: 00:26 EST, 13 July 2015 | Updated: 12:01 EST, 13 July 2015

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North Korean military chiefs have confirmed that they brutally executed the country's defence chief using an massive anti-aircraft gun at close range, a South Korean official revealed today.

Seoul's National Intelligence Service told lawmakers that People's Armed Forces Minister Hyon Yong Chol was killed by anti-aircraft gunfire in May on charges of disloyalty to leader Kim Jong Un.

It is understood that the 66-year-old defence chief had talked back to Kim during a gathering of top ranking officials, openly complained about the dictator's policies and fell asleep during meetings.

Killed: Seoul's National Intelligence Service told lawmakers that People's Armed Forces Minister Hyon Yong Chol (pictured) was killed by anti-aircraft gunfire in May on charges of disloyalty to leader Kim Jong Un

Key player: Hyon (far left) would typically sit just two seats away from Kim Jong-un at formal part meetings

'Pulverized': A ZPU-4 anti-aircraft gun is believed to have been used to brutally execute Hyon Yong-Chol

The North's state media has since not mentioned Hyon or his disappearance.

But over the weekend, the country's official Korean Central News Agency named army general Pak Yong Sik as the armed forces minister in a dispatch about a meeting with a Lao military delegation.

South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-Hee today told reporters that this confirmed Hyon's replacement and purging.

Hyon, who was named head of North Korea's military in 2012, was killed in front of hundreds of bloodthirsty officials at a military camp in the capital Pyongyang on April 30.

It is not the first time a ZPU-4 anti-aircraft gun has been used for executions in North Korea, with recently released satellite images showing a number of unidentified people being killed using the brutal method at the same camp last October.

Those images showed the targets just 100 feet from the guns, which have a range of 26,000 feet.

Sick: Hyon Yong-Chol (right), who was named Minister of the People's Armed Forces in 2012, had been charged with of disloyalty and disrespect towards North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un (left)

Hyon (pictured right attending the fourth Moscow Conference on International Security in mid-April) was reportedly killed by an anti-aircraft gun after falling asleep during meetings and disrespecting Kim Jong Un

Hyon was apparently caught falling asleep during formal military events and is said to have also spoken back to Kim Jong-Un on several occasions.

Lawmaker Shin Kyoung-min, who attended the parliamentary briefing during which news of the execution was announced, said the NIS believed it to be true.

Hong Hyun-ik, chief researcher at the Sejong Institute, a security think tank based in Seoul, told local broadcaster YTN that the anti-artillery gun used would have left the body utterly unrecognizable.

'Because there are several guns bound together, it would be hard to find the body after firing it once. It's really gruesome. What they did would have ripped all his flesh off, done in the manner of 'let's see what sort of punishment this is.'

Exposed: Earlier this year satellite pictures revealed for the first time that Kim's regime were using anti-aircraft weapons to brutally execute people in front on hundreds of people

FACING THE FIRING SQUAD... OR A PACK OF HUNGRY DOGS

Hyon Yong-Chol is the latest in a long line of officials and aides to fall victim to North Korea's trigger-happy president.

Since he rose to power in 2011, more than 70 officials have been purged by Kim Jong-un, according to Yonhap news agency.

While Kim usually opts for firing squads using machine guns, there have been reports of officials being killed using mortar rounds and it was claimed he had his uncle eaten alive by a pack of starving dogs.

It was claimed that Kim had Jang Song-Thaek, once his political mentor, executed in late 2013 by having him stripped naked and thrown into a cage with his five closest aides before he was eaten alive by 120 dogs that had been deliberately starved - while the president watched.

Jang was detained on an array of charges, including treason and corruption.

Kim had described his 67-year-old uncle – who was married to his father's sister – as a traitor, a womaniser and a 'despicable human scum'.

As well as disloyal aides, Kim also reportedly had an ex-girlfriend executed over claims that she had appeared in a porn film.

South Korean newspapers said singer Hyon Song-wol and 11 other members of performing groups were accused of making videos of themselves having sex and selling the videos for distribution in China.

Other band members as well as the families of the victims were made to watch the mass execution.

Since the start of the year, 16 senior officials are thought to have been executed - included two at vice-minister level - for opposing or complaining about Kim's policies.

The execution was initially reported by South Korea's Yonhap news agency, although reports from North Korea are impossible to independently confirm.

The lawmakers said Hyon was executed at a firing range at the Kanggon Military Training Area, which is located 14 miles north of the capital Pyongyang.

The satellite pictures revealed for the first time that Kim's regime were using anti-aircraft weapons to brutally execute people in front on hundreds of people.

The images, which have been released by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and AllSource Analysis, were taken in October last year.

They appear to show six ZPU-4 anti-aircraft guns being used to shoot a line of people stood 100 yards away, with a viewing platform located nearby.

Outraged critics said the victims would have been 'pulverised' by the artillery fire, in what they described as the latest example of brutality employed by the dictator to suppress his own people.

Hyon was last known to have spoken publicly at a security conference in Moscow in April, but is said to have shown disrespect to Kim by dozing off at a subsequent military event.

He was also believed to have stood up to and publicly complained about Kim, and had not ignored official orders on multiple occasions, according to the lawmakers.

Hyon is understood to have been arrested late last month and executed three days later without legal proceedings.

Hyon is believed to have been a military general since 2010 and served on the committee for late leader Kim Jong-il's funeral in December 2011, before becoming defence minister.

In North Korea, the defence minister is mainly in charge of logistics and international exchanges

Han Ki-Beom, the deputy director of the National Intelligence Agency (NIS), told a parliamentary committee that hundreds of officials watched the execution of minister Hyon Yong Chol (right) in Pyongyang on April 30

Hyon Yong-Chol would often be pictured in propaganda photographs released by North Korean state media

Policy-making is handled by the powerful National Defence Commission and the party Central Military Commission.

Since taking power upon the death of his dictator father in late 2011, Kim Jong Un has orchestrated a series of purges in apparent efforts to bolster his grip on power.

Experts on North Korea said there was no sign of instability in Pyongyang, but there could be if the purges continued.

Kim ordered the execution of 15 senior officials this year as punishment for challenging his authority, according to the NIS. In all, around 70 officials have been executed since Kim took over after his father's death in 2011, Yonhap news agency cited the NIS as saying.

Analysts are split on whether the bloody power shifts indicate a young leader in firm control, or someone still struggling to establish himself.

Executed: North Korea's defence minister Hyon Yong-Chol has reportedly been executed by an anti-aircraft gun in Pyongyang after falling asleep during meetings and talking back to leader Kim Jong Un

Prince of Pyongyang: Appearances of Kim Jong Un

'North Korean internal politics is very volatile these days. Internally, there does not seem to be any respect for Kim Jong Un within the core and middle levels of the North Korean leadership,' said Michael Madden, an expert on the country's leadership and contributor to the 38 North think tank.

'There is no clear or present danger to Kim Jong Un's leadership or regime stability, but if this continues to happen into next year, then we should seriously start to think about revising our scenarios on North Korea,' he added.

Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea leadership expert at Dongguk University in Seoul, said the regime could 'reach its limit' if Kim's purges continued, but added: 'it's still too early to tell.'

North Korea is one of the most insular countries in the world and its ruling power structure is highly opaque. The current leader is the third generation of the Kim family that has ruled with near-absolute power since the country was established in 1948.

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