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 told reporters today that this confirmed Hyon’s replacement and purging.
Since taking power upon the death of his dictator father Kim Jong-il in December 2011, Mr Kim has orchestrated a series of executions, purgings and personnel reshuffles in what outside analysts say is an attempt to bolster his grip on power. Some experts say repeated bloody power shifts indicate the young leader is still struggling to establish himself.
South Korean officials say 70 North Korean officials have been executed since Mr Kim’s inauguration. The most notable execution before Hyon’s happened in 2013 when Mr Kim had his uncle and No. 2, Jang Song-thaek, executed for alleged treason.
Mr Pak, known as a top official at the General Political Bureau of the Korean People’s Army, is considered one of Mr Kim’s closest associates and is among the officials who have accompanied Kim on various public activities mentioned in state media.
Confirmation of Hyon’s execution comes just days after it was reported that the manager of a terrapin farm had also been executed on Mr Kim’s orders after several of the creatures died during a power cut.
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