North Korea Said to Execute a Top Official, With an Antiaircraft Gun
By CHOE SANG-HUN

SEOUL, South Korea — The second-highest officer in North Korea’s military was recently executed as a traitor for showing disrespect for the nation’s leader, Kim Jong-un, South Korean intelligence officials told lawmakers here Wednesday.

Gen. Hyon Yong-chol, the minister of the People’s Armed Forces, was believed to have been executed with an antiaircraft gun in Pyongyang, the North’s capital, around April 30, National Intelligence Service officials told South Korean lawmakers during a closed parliamentary session.

Mr. Kim deemed General Hyon disloyal after he dozed off during military events and second-guessed Mr. Kim’s orders, the intelligence officials were quoted as saying by two lawmakers, who attended the session. With hundreds of North Korea’s elite watching, General Hyon was executed on charges of being a traitor, the officials said. General Hyon, who is considered second in the military hierarchy only to Vice Marshal Hwang Pyong-so, has disappeared from North Korea’s state-run news media since late April.

The National Intelligence Service referred any queries from the news media to the two lawmakers, Lee Cheol-woo and Shin Kyoung-min.

Mr. Kim is believed to have been terrorizing North Korea’s elites with executions and purges as he has struggled to establish his authority since the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, in 2011.

It was not clear how the South Korean spy agency acquired information on General Hyon’s supposed execution. Last month, the agency told the parliamentary intelligence committee that North Korea had executed 15 high-ranking government officials this year.

Information the spy agency has provided during closed parliamentary hearings has been considered reliable. But analysts caution that gathering verifiable data on the inner workings of the North’s government is difficult.

When Mr. Kim’s father died, South Korean intelligence officials were not aware of it until Pyongyang announced the news two days later.

Cheong Seong-chang, a senior analyst at the Sejong Institute in South Korea, warned that the spy agency was publicizing “unverified intelligence” on the supposed execution of General Hyon and said that prudent analysts should wait for more solid evidence.

“If he was really executed before other officials in late April, North Korea by now would have erased all his images from old documentary footage being broadcast on the North Korean TV, but that apparently has not happened yet,” Mr. Cheong said.

The spy agency has in the past been accused of leaking shocking news about North Korea to unsettle its government or divert attention from domestic scandals. In recent weeks, the South Korean government has been rocked by the North’s test of a submarine-launched missile and a domestic bribery scandal that led to the resignation of the prime minister.

South Korean officials said North Korea’s leader, believed to be in his early 30s, was resorting to a mix of terror and rewards to thwart any challenge to his leadership. He was believed to have ordered the execution of 68 senior officials from 2012 to last year, according to the South Korean spy agency. The reasons given included failure to follow through with Mr. Kim’s orders or raising questions about his decisions.

In 2013, an uncle of Mr. Kim’s, Jang Song-thaek, long considered the second most powerful man in North Korea, was executed, accused of stealing state funds and plotting to overthrow Mr. Kim.

General Hyon has been one of many generals whose fortunes have appeared to be fluctuate to Mr. Kim’s whim. The general’s status seemed to soar in 2012, when he became vice marshal as chief of the general staff of the North Korean People’s Army.

He did not last long in that post, however, as he was soon demoted to general. He resurfaced as the head of the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces in June.

打瞌睡還頂嘴金正恩 北韓防長傳機槍處決

南韓情報官員十三日在閉門會議中向國會議員透露，北韓人民武力部長（國防部長）玄永哲被控對領導人金正恩不敬，四月卅日遭行刑隊以防空重機槍公開處死，但此消息真實性遭質疑。

南韓國會議員轉述國家情報院（NIS）情資說，玄永哲在軍方活動中打盹被金正恩指責，不滿而頂嘴，且多次不履行金正恩指示的任務，態度不遜，被捕三天後未經審判，以對金正恩不敬不忠的罪名處決。

據信玄永哲四月卅日在平壤的姜健軍官學校遭防空重機槍處死，數百名官員在場觀看行刑。NIS說，金正恩23012年掌權以來，已處死七十多名幹部，意在製造恐怖統治氣氛，鞏固領導權。

六十二歲的玄永哲2010年被封為北韓人民軍大將，2012年七月升任人民軍參謀長，去年六月出任人民武力部長，位階僅次人民軍總政治局長黃炳誓。

不過，部分專家質疑玄永哲死訊是否確實。南韓智庫世宗研究所首席研究員鄭成長指出，依往例北韓會移除遭處決官員的影像，但玄永哲最近仍常出現在北韓官方電視畫面中。南韓統一部說，北韓官方電視台四月底到五月中旬播報軍演消息時，玄永哲多次現身。大陸外交部發言人華春瑩以「看了報導，不了解情況」，回答記者關於玄永哲的提問。大陸新華社向北韓朝中社查證消息，獲得「不清楚情況」回應。

美聯社報導，NIS 2010年未能預測北韓空襲延坪島，公信力遭質疑，幸於前年北韓宣布清算金正恩姑丈張成澤前幾天發布消息，挽回顏面。紐約時報則說，NIS曾刻意在南韓政壇傳出醜聞時，發布駭人的北韓消息轉移焦點，最近南韓內政醜聞包括前總理李完九涉貪在四月底引咎辭職。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/13/world/asia/north-korea-said-to-execute-a-top-official.html

紐約時報中文版翻譯：
http://cn.nytimes.com/asia-pacific/20150514/c14nkorea/zh-hant/

2015-04-05．聯合報．A1．要聞．編譯王麗娟