North Korea executes two officials by anti-aircraft gun

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has had two senior bureaucrats executed by anti-aircraft gun, media reports said.

Ri Yong-Jin, a senior official at the education department, and Hwang Min, the country's agricultural minister, were executed, the South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo reported citing a source with knowledge of North Korea, according to Sky News.

Both were publicly executed earlier this month "on a special order from Kim Jong-Un" at a military academy in Pyongyang, the source said.

Ri "dozed off during a meeting presided over by Kim", the source said.

"He was arrested on site and intensively questioned by the state security ministry. He was executed after other charges, such as corruption, were found during the probe."

On Hwang, the source said: "I understand he was executed because policy proposals he had pushed for were seen as a direct challenge to the Kim Jong-Un leadership."

The reports of these executions could not be verified and South Korea's Unification Ministry - which usually handles North Korea-related matters - has not commented, Sky News reported.

In December 2013, Jang Song-thaek, Kim's uncle and second-in-command, was denounced as a "traitor for all ages" and killed after being found guilty of treason and other crimes against the North Korean state.

In April last year, Hyon Yong-chol, a former Defence Chief, was executed after falling asleep during a military rally attended by Kim.

No announcement has been made by the state's official KCNA news agency yet.

--IANS

sm/rn