North Korean singer Hyon Song-wol, known as the ex-girlfriend of
the reclusive state's leader Kim Jong-un has reportedly been
executed by a firing squad, major South Korean newspaper The Chosun Ilbo reports .
Hyon and others were reportedly arrested on Aug. 17 for violating
laws against pornography and publicly executed on the 20th.
A source told Chosun Ilbo that Hyon and the head of the orchestra
"were executed with machine guns while the key members of the Unhasu
Orchestra, Wangjaesan Light Band and Moranbong Band as well as the
families of the victims looked on."
Chosun Ilbo has a daily circulation of more than 2,200,000 and publishes
web versions in English, Chinese, and Japanese.
The performers were accused of making and selling sex tapes, some of
which "have apparently gone on sale in China." Reuters notes that
because some of performers possessed bibles, the tapes were classified
as a political crime (and a capital offense) in the Hermit Kingdom.
Hyon sang in one of North Korea's most popular bands, the Pochonbo
Electronic Ensemble , which plays revolutionary and propaganda songs.
Chosun Ilbo notes that Kim's wife Ri Sol-ju is a former member of the
Unhasu Orchestra —which has been reportedly disbanded — before she
married him and birthed an heir to the Supreme Leader .
According to Chosun Ilbo, Kim and Hyon began dating about 10 years
ago but his father, Kim Jong-il, forced the relationship to end.
The unnamed source said Hyon's family and others were taken to the
country's notorious labor camps .
Hyon Song-Wol Execution: Was Kim Jong-un Ex-Lover's Death Driven by North Korean Dictator's Wife's Jealousy? [VIDEO]Ri Sol-ju and Kim's former girlfriend were both members of Unhasu Orchestra
Politics or jealousy could be the real reason behind the execution of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un's ex-lover, international analysts have claimed.
Pop singer Hyon Song-wol was machine-gunned by a firing squad along with 11 other entertainers for violating pornography laws, said Seoul-based Chosun Ilbo, South Korea's largest daily newspaper.
But the pornography claims did not stack up, said observers.
"If these people had only made pornographic videos, then it is simply not believable that their punishment was execution," Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor at Tokyo's Waseda University and an authority on North Korean affairs, told the Telegraph.
"They could have been made to disappear into the prison system there instead. There is a political reason behind this.
"Or, as Kim's wife once belonged to the same [musical] group [the Unhasu Orchestra], it is possible that these executions are more about Kim's wife," Shigemura added.
Hyon, who was said to have been Kim's girlfriend about a decade ago, was a singer with the Unhasu Orchestra, one of North Korea's most famous bands.
Kim's current wife, Ri Sol-ju, was also a member of the band, which last year played a joint concert with the Radio France Philharmonic in Paris.
The executed were all performers with that group and two other popular bands: the Wangjaesan Light Music Band and the Moranbong Band.
Authorities reportedly disbanded them after their investigation - despite their patriotic repertoire.
Some of the Unhasu Orchestra's most successful hits included Footsteps of Soldiers, I Love Pyongyang, She Is a Discharged Soldier, and We are Troops of the Party.
However, the group and Hyon were best known for their 2005 success Excellent Horse-Like Lady, also translated as A Girl in the Saddle of a Steed.
In the clip below, a smiling Hyon dressed in pink pretends to work in a in a clothing factory.
Hyon and Kim reportedly met as teenagers and became romantically involved in the early 2000s after he returned from an elite private school in Berne, Switzerland.
However Kim's late father, dictator Kim Jong-il, demanded that the relationship should be ended.
Hyon reportedly went on to marry a soldier and had a child but rumours that she was still involved with Kim only stopped when he married Ri in 2012.
Ri was first spotted alongside Kim at a series of public events in 2012. South Korean media initially suggested that she was Kim's younger sister, Yo-Jong, before it emerged that she was Ri Sol-ju.
Kim had reportedly chosen her as his future consort as she performed for him and his late father, on New Year's Eve 2010, according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency.
Ri had to undergo six months of special training and abandon her singing career to become the Supreme Leader's wife.
Post time 29-8-2013 10:02 PM
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Post time 30-8-2013 04:38 PM
