It has been made known that North Korea’s spy agency chief was recently purged on charges of abuse of power.

A North Korea source told KBS on Friday that the Organization and Guidance Department(OGD) of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea(WPK) launched an inspection against Minister of State Security Kim Won-hong and other senior officials late last year.  

The source said that he heard that Minister Kim was removed and demoted to a lower position. The minister of state security in North Korea is equivalent to the director of the National Intelligence in South Korea. 

The North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity, a Seoul-based civic group, said that the there was an inspection was initiated on the spy agency after the North’s number two diplomat in London, Thae Yong-ho, defected to the South last year.

Kim, who was appointed state security minister in 2012, was known to have played a crucial role in the execution of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s uncle Jang Song-thaek in 2013. 

Rumors say he also masterminded the killing of United Front Department Director Kim Yang-gon, who is reported to have died in a traffic accident in December 2015.