Choe Yong-gon, North Korea's vice premier, has been executed for his disagreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's forestry policy. Choe Yong-gon is the highest level official to date among roughly 70 high-ranking officials either executed or disappeared since Kim took office in 2011, according to The Independent. Choe has not been seen in public since December 2014.
Kim Kun Sop, the vice chief of the Korean Workers' Party's organization bureau, was also executed alongside Choe, according to United Press International. Kim Kun Sop was found guilty of corruption and executed along with some other regional officers.
The 63-year-old Choe was appointed to his vice premier position last year. In the 2000s, Choe represented North Korea in inter-Korean affairs, and from 2003 - 2005, he led North Korea's delegation in joint economic cooperation committees with South Korea. In addition, Choe also attended the 2004 opening ceremony of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, the last remaining joint project between the countries, according to The Huffington Post.
Under Kim Jong-un's leadership, many high-ranking officials have been executed, which has become almost commonplace under his brutal regime. The most high-profile figure ordered executed by Kim was his uncle, Jang Song-thaek.
Another high level officer ordered executed by Kim was Defense Minister Hyon Yong Chol over complaints about his leadership.
A report by South Korea's Institute for National Unification states that in the years that Kim took over power following his father's death, 21 people were executed in 2012 and 82 were executed in 2013. It also states that between 2000 and 2013, just less than 1,400 people were publicly executed, causing South Korean analyst Chung Sung-jang to state the current leadership should be regarded as even more dangerous than that of Kim's father, Kim Jong-il.
