North Korea’s supreme leader, Kim Jong Un, reportedly ordered the execution of at least 30 government officials responsible for the damage due to devastating floods over the summer that killed thousands.
The South’s Chosun TV reported on Tuesday that 20-30 people, including provincial governors, were sentenced to capital punishment last month “for failing to prevent flooding”.
The report quoted a government official as saying, “It has been determined that 20 to 30 cadres in the flood-stricken area were executed at the same time late last month,” and that “circumstances involving the dismissed Chagang Province Party Secretary Kang Bong-hoon have been captured and are being confirmed.”
It was also reported that several officials were also been charged with corruption and dereliction of duty. “Even though there was recent flood damage, they were dismissed for social security reasons, and the executives themselves are so anxious that they don’t know when their necks will fall off…,” a former North Korean diplomat was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Kim Jong Un ordered authorities to “strictly punish” the officials after catastrophic floods hit the Chagang Province, near the border with China, in July.
It’s, however, difficult to know and confirm the details, given the North’s extreme secrecy.
North Korea’s state media reported in July that the recent heavy rains in northwestern North Korea flooded thousands of houses and a vast extent of farmland and left many residents homeless and living in makeshift tents.
Around 3,500 and 4,000 people were reported to have died in the floods. North Korea is prone to flooding from heavy summer rains because of poor drainage, deforestation and dilapidated infrastructure.
A Russian company registered in the far eastern city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur has been cleared to import beer produced in North Korea, Russian media reported on Wednesday, in the latest sign of warming ties between Moscow and Pyongyang.
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