Deposed senior North Korean leader executed

Jang Song-Thaek, deposed senior official of North Korea, has been executed after the Special Military Tribunal found him guilty of treason, the official news agency KCNA reported Friday.

Jang, vice-chairman of the National Defense Commission and secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) administration department, was executed Thursday immediately after the Special Military Tribunal convicted him of committing "unforgivable crime as traitor', Xinhua reported citing KCNA.

Labeled as a so-called "reformer" by outside forces, Jang has been day-dreaming about being recognised as a "new regime," the special military tribunal said in a verdict.

The 67-year-old senior general, who was married to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's biological aunt, admitted at the trial that he premeditated a coup against Kim, the report said.

Under North Korea's constitution, he was sentenced to death and the execution was carried out immediately, the report said.

Jang, who formed a faction within the party, committed crimes such as abuse of power and challenged the country's "sole leadership system", the verdict said, stressing that "the discovery and purge of the Jang group... made our party and revolutionary ranks purer".

Anyone "who dares challenge the absolute authority and sole leadership of our dear Marshal Kim Jong Un will end up with unpardonable deathful punishment, no matter who he is and where he is hiding," the report said.

Jang was stripped of all posts and titles for "anti-party and counter-revolutionary crime" after an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee on Sunday.

He was arrested at the scene, showed video footage of the Korean Central TV.

The North Korean media has given an intensive coverage about the ordinary people's "angry" reaction to Jang's misdeeds, calling on all party members, the army and people to be united under the leadership of Kim, the report said.