New Delhi: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reportedly ordered up to 30 officials of his government to be executed. They are being allegedly punished for failing to prevent the devastating floods and landslides in the summer that resulted in the deaths of around 1,000 people, the South Korean media reported.
Heavy rain and subsequent landslides struck Chagang Province recently causing deaths, injuries, and leaving several homeless.
A report by TV Chosun quoted an official from Kim’s regime as saying that between 20 to 30 leaders in North Korea had been charged with corruption and dereliction of duty, with the state sentencing them to capital punishment, according to FirstPost.
The official said, “It has been determined that 20 to 30 cadres in the flood-stricken area were executed at the same time last month.”
However, this detail is hard to confirm much like many others due to North Korea’s extreme secrecy, but the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) has reported that Kim had ordered authorities to “strictly punish” officials following the catastrophic floods in July that struck Chagang Province, near the border with China.
As per KCNA, during an emergency Politburo meeting held in Sinuiju, Kim asked authorities to “strictly punish” those who he claimed had neglected their responsibilities for disaster prevention and caused “even the casualty that can not be allowed.”
The government officials who were executed were not identified, however, as per KCNA, Kang Bong-hoon, who has been the secretary of the Chagang Province Provincial Party Committee since 2019, was among the leaders dismissed by Kim in an emergency meeting during the flooding disaster.
Heavy rains struck North Korea in July led to landslides and flooding and affected over 4,000 homes and isolated 5,000 residents. Kim personally inspected the affected areas. The North Korean leader further stated that it will take between two and three months to rebuild the flood-affected areas and has designated parts of three provinces as “special disaster emergency zones.”
