North Korea said to publicly execute defense minister with anti-aircraft gun

North Korea publicly executed its defense minister, Hyon Yong Chol, with an anti-aircraft gun, according to new reports from the South Korean Intelligence Agency. However, doubts surfaced today over the validity of the execution.

The execution may have taken place as late as April and is said to have occurred at a Pyongyang military school with hundreds of people in attendance. Hyon was reportedly executed without a trial only a few days after his arrest for treason.

A chairman of South Korea’s National Assembly Intelligence Committee said Hyon had expressed discontent toward the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, failed to follow Kim’s orders on several occasions and reportedly fell asleep during a meeting organized by Kim.

According to CNN, Hyon was a longtime Kim family loyalist who had worked under the younger Kim’s father and former leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Il.

Doubts surfaced Thursday after South Korea’s spy agency said it had been unable to verify he had been put to death, according to the Guardian.

Read more from CNN.[[In-content Ad]]