Anchor: Seoul's Unification Ministry says North Korea publicly executed a vice premier and sent the chief of the Reconnaissance General Bureau to receive ideological reeducation at a rural area. Officials said that the vice premier's "attitude problems" led to his death.
Our Kim Bum-soo reports.

Report: The South Korean government says that the North Korean vice premier Kim Yong-jin was executed last month. 

Seoul's Unification Ministry Spokesman Jeong Joon-hee on Wednesday told reporters about the latest series of punishments in North Korea.

[Sound bite: Unification Ministry Spokesman Jeong Joon-hee (Korean)]
"[I confirm] rumors that there were public executions and happenings endured by some high-ranking officials as the government made the confirmations from diverse channels."   

The cabinet official is said to have been killed in a public execution by a firing squad in July.

While the Unification Ministry spokesman refused to elaborate on the reasons behind the capital punishment, another official said that the 63-year old's "attitude problems" were pointed out during the fourth session of the 13th Supreme People's Assembly in June. Ensuing investigations concluded the vice premier to be an antirevolutionist who must be executed.

The spokesman also said Chief Kim Yong-chol of the Reconnaissance General Bureau(RGB) in Pyongyang was ordered to undergo a punitive one-month reeducation session. 

Kim Yong-chol's abuse of power is said to have been the cause of the reeducation that took place between mid-July to earlier this month at a rural farm. 

The 71-year-old RGB chief also heads the United Front Department, which is in charge of handling inter-Korean relations. He is said to have been coercive in seeking to expand the parameters of his office. 

South Korean officials also expressed concerns that the intelligence chief could now try to prove his loyalty to Kim Jong-un by taking hawkish measures towards the South. 

Vice department director Choe Hwi of the ruling party's central committee is also reported to be undergoing reeducation since late May for his mishandling of propaganda-related activities.

It is not the first time that ranking North Korean officials are ordered to receive ideological reeducation. Widely regarded as the country's number two, North Korean communist party secretary Choe Ryong-hae was subjected to a three-month reeducation session last year.

Kim Jong-un, the young North Korean leader, is said to have executed over 100 officials in the government and military since he took power in 2011. They include his powerful uncle Jang Song-thaek. 
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.