North Korea executes vice premier in charge of education

North Korea has executed a vice prime minister in charge of education and ordered two other officials to attend re-education classes for wrongdoing, South Korea's Unification Ministry said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervises an air force drill - Photo: Reuters

According to AFP, South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-Hee said at a press conference on August 31: "Deputy Prime Minister in charge of education Kim Yong-Jin has been executed."

Kim Jong-Jin was executed in July for "anti-party, anti-revolutionary incitement," according to an unnamed official in South Korea's Unification Ministry.

Mr. Jeong said Mr. Kim was in charge of education in North Korea but declined to say why South Korea believed he had been executed. Mr. Jeong also did not explain how the South Korean Unification Ministry learned of Mr. Kim’s execution.

Along with Mr. Kim's execution, two other senior North Korean officials were sent to rural re-education camps. One of them was Kim Yong-Chol, a senior official in charge of inter-Korean affairs.

According to AP, there is very little information about Mr. Kim Yong Jin. The last time he was mentioned by the North Korean state news agency was on June 15, when he attended a ceremony to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Korean Taekwondo Federation.

Since taking power in late 2011, the North Korean leader is believed to have executed or demoted a number of senior government officials.

This move, in the eyes of experts, is like Kim Jong Un's intention to seize power.

JoongAng Ilbo newspaper also reported yesterday (August 30) that two senior officials of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea were executed.

According to Tuoi Tre