North Korea executed Kim Hyok-chol and other officials after failed Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi, South Korean media claims
- The Chosun Ilbo, citing an unnamed source, said top negotiators were either killed or subjected to forced labour after denuclearisation talks between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump ended without resolution
- US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was attempting to check on the reports of the envoy’s execution
The North Korean leader is believed to be carrying out a massive purge to divert attention away from internal turmoil and discontent, the newspaper said.
“Kim Hyok-chol was investigated and executed at Mirim Airport with four foreign ministry officials in March,” an unnamed North Korea source said, according to the Chosun Ilbo, adding that they were charged with spying for the United States.
Kim Hyok-chol had been the negotiations counterpart to US special representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun before the summit.
Kim Yong-chol was forced to work in Jagang Province after his dismissal, the source said, adding that Kim Song-hye, who carried out working-level negotiations with Kim Hyok-chol, was sent to a political prison camp, Chosun reported.
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Shin Hye-yong, the interpreter for Kim Jong-un at the Hanoi meeting, is also said to have been detained in a political prison camp for undermining the authority of Kim Jong-un by making a critical interpretation mistake.
North Korean state newspaper Rodong Sinmun said in a commentary on Thursday that “Acting like one is revering the Leader in front [of others] but dreaming of something else when one turns around, is an anti-Party, antirevolutionary act that has thrown away the moral fidelity toward the Leader, and such people will not avoid the stern judgment of the revolution.”
“There are traitors and turncoats who only memorise words of loyalty toward the Leader and even change according to the trend of the time,” the commentary said.
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It is the first time since the December 2013 execution of Jang Song Thaek, Kim Jong-un’s uncle, that expressions hinting at purging such as “anti-party, antirevolutionary” and “stern judgment” appeared in Rodong Sinmun, Chosun Ilbo said.
An official at South Korea’s Unification Ministry declined to comment.
Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told reporters in Singapore on Friday evening that he could not confirm Kim Hyok-chol’s execution.
Kim Dong-yub, a professor specialising in North Korea at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies in South Korea, was sceptical that the Chosun report was credible. This type of political execution would be seen domestically as an attempt by the North Korean leader to shift blame for a summit that was well-publicised within the secretive state, he said.
The United States is attempting to check on the reports of the envoy’s execution, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during his visit to Berlin on Friday.
When asked about reports of a “shakeup” of Kim Jong-un’s negotiating team in a May 5 interview with ABC News, Pompeo said it did appear that his future counterpart would be somebody else “but we don’t know that for sure.”
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
