Kim Jong Eun has executed 15 high-ranking officials
so far this year, reported South Korea’s National Intelligence Service [NIS] on
April 29th.
“Kim Jong Eun’s reign of terror continues unabated, according to the reports from the NIS,” Shin Kyung Min, an assistant
administrator of the Intelligence Committee and a member of the opposition
party, told reporters the same day. “Kim is taking a strict policy of no excuses,
consistently carrying out his ‘reign of terror.’ Dissents are considered acts of challenging his authority, punishable by execution to set an example
for would-be protesters.”
He added, “According to the NIS, Kim
executed the vice-minister of Forestries for complaining about the country’s
afforestation directive. He also executed the vice-chairman of the State Planning
Commission [SPC] in February for raising opposition to plans for a Science
Technology Hall along the Taedong River.” Other reason behind the demise of the
SPC vice-chairman was purportedly his objection to Kim Jong Eun’s desire to
change the flower designs at the proposed science facility.
The head of Eunhasu [Milky Way] Orchestra
and three other artists were also executed for “causing scandals,” according to the report.
There has been a constant churn of
promotion and demotion in the senior ranks of the military since Kim Jong Eun’s
assumption of power in late 2011, a strategic process to ensure security,
demonstrate Kim’s total command, and foster fear and loyalty in the senior
ranks. Shin cited the case of Kim Young Cheol, who, just three months after
suddenly being demoted from his position as director of North Korea’s General
Bureau of Reconnaissance, was reinstated to his original rank.
Aside from the information on these 15 officials, the NIS reported that Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Eun’s younger
sister and vice department director in the Central Committee of the ruling
Chosun Workers’ Party, is expecting a child in May. “The child’s paternity
cannot be confirmed,” Shin stated, adding that current intel points
to a fellow graduate of Kim Il Sung University as the father, though nothing is
known of his background.
Shin concluded the briefing by broaching the swirling speculation regarding Kim Jong Eun’s upcoming visit to Russia for
celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Germany in
WWII; such a trip would be his first visit to a foreign country since assuming power
in December 2011. Shin said the NIS report asserted the possibility for Kim Jong Eun to head to Moscow to be “very high” but that a host of factors and variables prevent this theory from being entirely conclusive.
