North Korea ‘EXECUTES’ ex-minister who called Trump ‘Lying King’ as Kim ‘purges way for sis and daughter to succeed him’
BLOODTHIRSTY tyrant Kim Jong-un has reportedly had a former key crony executed in a savage clampdown inside his regime, sources have claimed.
Ri Yong-ho, who negotiated North Korea‘s nuclear deals with the United States, was allegedly executed amid Kim Jong-un‘s ramping up of war drills.
The top diplomat, who was formerly the North Korean ambassador to Britain and spoke fluent English, was reportedly executed after being “purged” from Kim’s administration.
Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, citing unnamed sources, reported that the 66-year-old had been executed last year.
South Korean MP Youn Kun-young told the country’s parliament that his county’s National Intelligence Service had confirmed that Ri had been “purged”, but added that “whether he was executed remains unclear”.
Ri is the highest-profile North Korean figure to have been killed for several years.
It comes as Kim – who has been his country’s supreme leader since 2011 – prepares to celebrate his 39th birthday on Sunday.
Ri served as ambassador at North Korea’s shabby embassy in Ealing, west London, between 2003 and 2007.
In 2016, he was appointed as Foreign Minister by Kim and became infamous for his fiery confrontations with his US counterparts.
At one memorable speech to the UN general assembly in 2017, Ri described then-President Donald Trump as a “Lying King” and “President Evil”.
But he later played a key role in negotiations between the two countries.
He spearheaded the shock talks held between Trump and Kim in Singapore.
However, a second summit in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi in early 2019 saw no deal reached either on curbing North Korea’s nuclear weapons program or lifting international sanctions.
It comes amid rumours “sickly” Kim is readying his sister and daughter to take over following months of alleged ill health.
Kim was pictured with his young daughter for the first time in November as he held the child’s hand just before the test launch of a nuclear missile.
Pyongyang is known to put senior politicians to death once they fall out of favour with the regime.
The last high-profile killing was the execution of Kim’s uncle through marriage, Jang Song-thaek.
Jang, who was a former vice-chairman of the National Defence Commission, was put before a firing squad in 2013.