North Korea executed five senior security officials with anti-aircraft guns because they made false reports that enraged Kim Jong-un.
South Korea’s spy agency the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said on Monday the five victims were from the state security department.
According to Dailymail, they are said to have produced false reports which angered the country’s leader which resulted in them being murdered with the hugely powerful weapons.
The spy agency told lawmakers that five North Korean officials had been in the same department as the recently-departed state security chief Kim Won Hong, who was fired last month for allegations of corruption.
It is not clear what false reports they allegedly made, and the NIS didn’t say how it got its information.
North Korea fired Kim Won Hong in January over corruption, abuse of power and torture committed by his agency, Seoul said earlier this month.
The fallen minister had been seen as close to Kim Jong-un.
North Korea has not publicly said anything about Kim Won Hong or about the alleged executions in his department.
South Korean lawmaker Lee Cheol Woo cited the NIS as saying that Kim Won Hong’s dismissal was linked to those false reports, which ‘enraged’ Kim Jong Un when they were discovered.
The comments by the National Intelligence Service in a private briefing to lawmakers come as Malaysia investigates the poisoning death of Kim’s estranged elder half brother, Kim Jong Nam.
That investigation is still going on, but South Korea says it believes Kim Jong Un ordered the assassination, which took place February 13 at Kuala Lumpur’s airport.
Since taking power in late 2011, Kim Jong Un has reportedly executed or purged a large number of high-level government officials in what rival Seoul has called a ‘reign of terror.’
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