North Korea denies executions of state performers to protect first lady

North Korea on Sunday angrily denied reports that it had executed several state performers to cover up the past of its first lady, calling the media accounts an “unpardonable” crime.

The denial came a day after the North indefinitely postponed reunions for families divided by the Korean War, citing South Korean hostility, slander and provocation.

Sunday’s denunciation focused on several recent reports carried by the South’s “reptile media” aimed at “hurting the dignity” of supreme leader Kim Jong-un.

In particular it cited a Saturday report in Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper - picked up by South Korean broadcasters and websites - that several members of the North’s Unhasu Orchestra and other state music troupes had been executed by firing squad for taping themselves having sex.

Ri Sol-ju, Kim’s wife, is a former member of the orchestra.

Asahi said the rare execution of state performers, including a singer rumoured to be Kim’s ex-girlfriend, had been ordered to squash rumours of Ri’s decadent lifestyle while she was an entertainer.

It said police had secretly recorded conversations between the entertainers who said, “Ri Sol-ju used to play around in the same manner as we did”.