News Digest

‘Nazi propaganda’: North Korea angrily denies South’s execution claims

North Korea responded angrily Thursday to reports in the South Korean media about a recent spate of high-level defections and executions, calling them Nazi-style propaganda aimed at tarnishing Pyongyang’s image. The reports in a number of publications have been accompanied by speculation that the defections signal a growing instability in the North Korean leadership under Kim Jong-Un. In a lengthy commentary, the North’s official KCNA news agency dismissed the reports as wild rumour and “sheer lies”. KCNA specifically rubbished a report about the recent defection of a top-ranking general to the South.

The false propaganda … is a foolish and base politically-motivated conspiratorial farce aimed at giving the impression of a mood of uneasiness and horror within the ranks of the North’s top officials.

North’s official KCNA news agency said in a statement.

A reported stated last week that Lieutenant General Pak Sung-Won, a deputy chief of the General Staff of the North Korean army, had escaped to Seoul via Moscow. KCNA said the report was “sheer nonsense” and that Pak was currently commanding a construction project at the Masikryong Ski Resort - a pet project of the supreme leader. The response comes as South Korea’s foreign minister confirmed North Korea has staged 70 executions since current leader Kim Jong Un took power in late 2011. Yun Byung-se also said Thursday at a forum in Seoul that Kim’s “reign of terror” is inspiring North Koreans working overseas to defect to the South.

Some of them, of course, are coming to South Korea.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-Se.