North
Korea recently distributed a list to overseas diplomatic posts of the names of
cadres executed in the aftermath of the purge of former Vice-chairman of the National
Defense Commission Jang Song Taek, a Japanese daily alleged on the 31st.
Citing
a “number of inside sources,” the report carried by Yomiuri Shimbun claimed that the list of 16 of Jang’s closest
associates included high-ranking cadres Ri Ryong Ha and Jang Su Gil, who are said to have been executed in November, and Party Central Committee officials Pak Chun Hong
and Ryang Chong Song.
Embassies
and other diplomatic organs throughout China, Europe and Southeast Asia were forwarded the list in early January, the report claimed.
However, allegedly absent
from it were former Ambassador to Sweden Pak Kwang Chol, nephew of Jang Song Taek
and former Ambassador to Malaysia Jang Yong Chol, North Korea’s deputy delegate to
UNESCO Hong Yong and Jang’s brother-in-law and former Ambassador to Cuba Jong Yong
Jin. All were spotted returning to
Pyongyang shortly after the purge and execution of Jang, fueling rumors of a sweeping purge.
According
to the article, the 16 were executed for “disloyalty to First Chairman of the
National Defense Commission Kim Jong Eun.”
The report has not been independently verified.
