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North Korea's Defence Minister Hyon Yong-chol has been executed for showing disloyalty to leader Kim Jong-un, South Korea's spy agency has told parliament. MPs were told Mr Hyon was killed on 30 April by anti-aircraft fire in front of an audience of hundreds, the Yonhap news agency reports. It said Mr Hyon had fallen asleep during an event attended by Kim Jong-un and had not carried out instructions. The news comes weeks after the reported execution of 15 senior officials.

N. Korea has executed its defence chief on treason charges, Seoul's National Intelligence Service was quoted as telling lawmakers, in the latest of a series of high-level purges since Kim Jong Un took power after his father's death in 2011. Hyon Yong Chol, who heads the isolated country's military, was purged and then executed by firing squad with an antiaircraft gun, watched by hundreds of people, South Korean media reported on Wednesday, citing the NIS's comments to a parliamentary panel. Hyon, who spoke at a security conference in Moscow in April, was said to have shown disrespect to Kim by...

10-11-2012 11:18 Top NK military official appears to be demoted A top North Korean military official appeared in public wearing the insignia of the four-star rank, spurring speculation that he might have been demoted from the vice marshal rank awarded to him only a few months ago. The North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Wednesday carried a front-page photo showing Hyon Yong-chol, chief of the North Korean military's general staff, wearing a uniform bearing four stars on the epaulets while saluting next to leader Kim Jong-un. They were on a visit to Pyongyang's Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, the mausoleum...

DPRK awards Hyon Yong Chol title of KPA vice marshal English.news.cn 2012-07-17 05:38:18 PYONGYANG, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Hyon Yong Chol was awarded the title of vice marshal of the Korean People's Army (KPA), reported KCNA, the official news agency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), early Tuesday. According to the report, the decision to award the title was made by the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and the National Defense Commission of the DPRK on Monday. Hyon was a general of the KPA before the promotion. On Monday, Pyongyang announced that KPA...