North Korean officials 'executed with anti-aircraft gun'

Two senior North Korean officials were executed with an anti-aircraft gun in early August on the orders of Kim Jong-un, South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper has reported.

Ri Yong Jin, a senior official in the education ministry, was arrested for dozing off during a meeting with Kim and charged with corruption before being killed, the paper said.

Former Agriculture Minister Hwang Min was purged over a proposed project seen as a direct challenge to Kim’s leadership, it said.

If true, it would mark the first executions ordered by Kim from outside his party or the military, the paper said.

A spokesman at South Korea’s Unification Ministry said he couldn’t immediately confirm the JoongAng report.