North Korea Confirms Executing Its Defence Chief Over Argument With President

Hyon (far left) would typically sit just two seats away from Kim Jong-un at formal part meetings

North Korean military chiefs have confirmed that they brutally executed the country's defence chief using a massive anti-aircraft gun at close range. Seoul's National Intelligence Service told lawmakers that People's Armed Forces Minister Hyon Yong Chol was killed by anti-aircraft gunfire in May on charges of disloyalty to leader Kim Jong Un.

It is understood that the 66-year-old defence chief had talked back to Kim during a gathering of top ranking officials, openly complained about the dictator's policies and fell asleep during meetings.

Over the weekend, the country's official Korean Central News Agency named army general Pak Yong Sik as the armed forces minister in a dispatch about a meeting with a Lao military delegation.

South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-Hee yesterday told reporters that this confirmed Hyon's replacement and purging.

Hyon, who was named head of North Korea's military in 2012, was killed in front of hundreds of bloodthirsty officials at a military camp in the capital Pyongyang.

Hyon Yong-Chol is the latest in a long line of officials and aides to fall victim to North Korea's trigger-happy president.

Since he rose to power in 2011, more than 70 officials have been purged by Kim Jong-un.