South Korean paper claims Kim Hyok-chol has been killed and senior negotiator Kim Yong-chol subjected to forced labourNorth Korea executed Kim Hyok-chol, its special envoy to the United States, and foreign ministry officials who carried out working-level negotiations for the Hanoi summit in February, a South Korean newspaper has reported.
Kim Yong-chol, a senior official who had been US secretary of state Mike Pompeo’s counterpart in the run-up to the second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, is also said to have been subjected to forced labour and ideological education as one of the officials held responsible for its collapse, the Chosun Ilbo said.
The North Korean leader was believed to be carrying out a widespread purge to divert attention from internal turmoil and discontent, the newspaper said.
“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 Chosun Ilbo, adding that they were charged with spying for the United States.
Kim Hyok-chol had been the counterpart to Stephen Biegun, the US special representative for North Korea, before the summit.
Kim Yong-chol was forced to work in Jagang province after his dismissal, the newspaper’s source said, adding that Kim Song-hye, who carried out working-level negotiations with Kim Hyok-chol, was sent to a political prison camp.
Shin Hye-yong, the interpreter for Kim at the Hanoi meeting, is also said to have been detained in a political prison camp for undermining the leader’s authority by making a critical interpretation mistake, Chosun reported.
Kim Yo-jong, the regime leader’s sister who helped him in Hanoi, is also said to be “lying low” on her brother’s orders, the paper reported, citing an unnamed South Korean government official who said: “We are not aware of Kim Yo-jong’s track record since the Hanoi meeting.”
The North Korean state newspaper Rodong Sinmun said in a commentary on Thursday: “Acting like one is revering the leader in front [of others] but dreaming of something else when one turns around, is an anti-party, anti-revolutionary act that has thrown away the moral fidelity toward the leader, and such people will not avoid the stern judgment of the revolution.”
“There are traitors and turncoats who only memorise words of loyalty toward the leader and even change according to the trend of the time.”
It is the first time since the December 2013 execution of Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, that expressions such as “anti-party, anti-revolutionary” and “stern judgment” have appeared in Rodong Sinmun, according to Chosun Ilbo.
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[FoxNews] North Korea has executed five officials for their part in the failed second summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Little Kim Jong A-bonbon, according to a South Korean newspaper.
Citing the newspaper, Bloomberg News reported that Kim Hyok Chol, North Korea's special envoy to the U.S., and four other North Korean Foreign Ministry officials were executed in March because of the breakdown of the February summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.