North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is said to be strengthening his reign of terror.  

According to a source with inside knowledge of North Korea, Pyongyang authorities were known to have publicly executed 60 North Koreans so far this year.

The source said it was more than twice the average number of people killed annually in public executions since Kim took power in 2011.  

The source added that the economic situation in the North has worsened due to toughest international sanctions against the regime early this year, and authorities are using these executions to control growing public complaints against North Korean leaders.  

The source said that many of those being killed are family members left behind by defectors, and brokers arranging the defectors' escape routes, as they are perceived to be a threat to the stability of the regime.

According to another source, the North’s Ministry of State Security executed scores of defectors' families and defection brokers in early February on charges of espionage.

The source added that around 10 brokers were executed by a firing squad in Hyesan, Yanggang Province in April.