REUTERS/KCNANorth Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) pays his respects to North Korean founder Kim Il Sung and his father Kim Jong Il at Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, in this January 1, 2015 photo.It's hard to know how much of the crazy news that comes out of North Korea is true, and reports of brutal executions have been proven false in the past.
But the latest report about a top-ranking general being executed with an anti-aircraft gun for falling asleep during a meeting may just be accurate.
First, the latest rumors about the top-ranking military official, Gen. Hyon Yong-chol, come from South Korean intelligence officials to the country's lawmakers.
The New York Times reports that information from South Korean intelligence is generally considered to be reliable. (The Times adds the caveat that South Korea's spy agency "has in the past been accused of leaking shocking news about their isolated and secretive neighbor to unsettle its government or divert attention from domestic scandals.")
The spy agency said Hyon was executed in front of hundreds of people for being a "traitor."
Adding credence to the South Korean spies in this case: The Washington Post reported earlier this month that new satellite imagery appears to show people standing in front of anti-aircraft machine guns, waiting to be executed.
The images are from October, taken at a military training area near Pyongyang, but North Korea has long been rumored to execute people in this manner. Experts have questioned this supposed method of execution, but the satellites images from U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea lend more credence to the reports.
The human rights report notes that vehicles present at the small-arms firing range where the supposed execution took place in October suggest that senior North Korean officers were present at the facility, which would be unlikely if it were just a training exercise. And the ZPU-4 anti-aircraft guns lined up at the facility wouldn't typically be seen in exercises at a small-arms range.
From the report:
The most plausible explanation of the scene captured in the October 7th satellite image is a gruesome public execution. Anyone who has witnessed the damage one single U.S. .50 caliber round does to the human body will shudder just trying to imagine a battery of 24 heavy machine guns being fired at human beings. Bodies would be nearly pulverized. The gut-wrenching viciousness of such an act would make "cruel and unusual punishment" sound like a gross understatement.
Here's the satellite image from the report:
U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea
The Times notes that recently, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un "is believed to have been terrorizing North Korea's elites with executions and purges as he has struggled to establish his authority" after his father, the previous and much-feared dictator Kim Jong Il, died in 2011.
South Korean officials have asserted that Kim Jong Un has executed dozens of senior North Korean officials in the past few years for questioning his decisions or failing to follow orders, according to the Times. One of the men rumored to be executed was Kim's uncle, who was reportedly accused of plotting a coup.
So while it's hard to know what's really going on in the Hermit kingdom, the latest savage execution is probably true.