North Korean defense chief executed for dozing off at an event

Ever imagined that little nod you make when you’re bored can actually get one into trouble? Well it did, fatally, for this defense chief.

North Korea publicly executed the country’s defense minister after the regime accused him of treason, according to a report released by South Korean news agency Yonhap.

According to the BBC, Hyon Yong Chol was killed by firing squad using an anti-aircraft gun at a military school in front of hundreds of people in Pyongyang around April 30, the agency reported, citing a media briefing by the National Intelligence Service at its headquarters in Seoul.

Hyon “was purged for lese majeste” because he was seen “dozing off” during a military event and “did not carry out Kim’s instructions,” the agency said. It wasn’t clear what instructions Hyon failed to carry out. He was as close to Kim Jong-un as it is possible to get, yet he was made to go through a public and brutal method of execution as obliteration by anti-aircraft gun to emphasise the cost of disloyalty.

You see, the violent and sudden death of Hyon, who had been appointed to defense chief less than a year ago, would not be the first since Kim Jong-Un took power. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been accused of ordering the executions of as many as 15 top officials so far this year.

Earlier this week, CNN reported that a senior North Korean official who defected claimed Kim Jong-Un ordered his aunt Kim Kyong Hui be poisoned. The official claimed Kim wanted to silence his aunt, who was angry after the execution of her husband Jang Song Thaek, Kim’s presumed No. 2.


Peradventure you ever find yourself in a meeting with North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong Un, be careful not to fall asleep.