[JURIST] South Korean Yonhap News Agency [media website] on Wednesday reported [Yonhap report] that Kim Jong-un [BBC profile] executed North Korea’s Vice Premier by firing squad earlier this year. The South Korea news agency cited an unnamed source which claims that 63-year-old Choe Yong gon was executed for expressing his disapproval of Kim Jong-un’s forestation policy. The Ministry of Unification [official website] have addressed the possibility of the execution stating, “Choe has not been seen publicly for about past eight months since he was last witnessed in December last year at the ceremony to mark the third anniversary of the death of North’s former leader Kim Jong-il.” If the unnamed source is accurate, then the Vice Premier becomes another victim to Kim Jong-un’s high profile executions which have been criticized by the international community.

In 2013 Kim Jong-un put his uncle, Chang Song-thaek [BBC profile], to death along with several officials close to him. In November UN Special Rapporteur on the situation in the People’s Republic of Korea Marzuki Darusman said that there is enough evidence to hold North Korean leader Kim responsible for “massive” human rights atrocities [JURIST report] committed in the country. Also in November the UN General Assembly urged [JURIST report] the Security Council to call on the International Criminal Court [official website] to investigate the crimes. The UN Human Rights Council [official website] adopted a resolution [JURIST report] last March urging the UN Security Council to take action against those responsible for documented crimes against humanity in North Korea. Last February then-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay stated that there can no longer be any excuses for inaction [JURIST report] in North Korea following the release of a UN report.