CNN news 2015-08-16 加文本

cnn news 2015-08-16

A top official in Kim Jong-Un's government vanished from public view. Choe Yong-Gon, a North Korean vice premier, hasn't been seen in eight months. That's according to South Korea's Unification Ministry which tells cnn it is, quote, "watching closely for possible change in the status."

"It could mean that he is on hold. It could mean that he is under suspicion or under investigation. It could mean that he got dead."

The State Department says if Choe Yong-Gon was executed, this would be yet another example of what it calls "the extreme brutality of the North Korean regime".

The vice premiere's public disappearance comes during an extended bloody campaign of purges by Kim Jong-Un. South Korean Intelligence and Foreign Ministry officials say he's executed at least 70 top officials since taking power in late 2011.

I think the inner circle is a very tense place to be right now under Kim Jong-Un. The leaders within that inner circle, and there are only a handful of them, are both looking over their shoulder, looking at Kim Jong-Un, trying to define what he wants.

Kim reportedly had his defense minister, Hyon Yong-Chol, executed with an anti-aircraft gun, apparently for pushing back on Kim's orders and nodding off at meetings.

There are published reports that the architect of Pyongyang's new airport was executed because Kim didn't like the design.

U.S. officials tell cnn executions are Kim's way of solidifying his position, a way of sending a bone-chilling signal to those closest to him.

Don't mess with me. I'm the boss. And if you know what's good for you, you'll stay absolutely loyal to me.

Kim famously had his very powerful uncle, Jang Song-Thaek, executed. Analysts say that signaled a departure from the way Kim's father and grandfather operated.

They ran the most totalitarian system, of course, that's ever been operated by human beings. But during their tenure, the royals always stayed safe. That was one of the rules. If you were in the royal court, you were in pretty good situation no matter what was happening to hundreds of thousands of people in prison and so forth.

The people close to Kim who are safe, blood relatives, namely his younger sister Kim Yo Jong who's rising in power and a shadowy older sister Kim Sol Song, never seen in public, said to be advising him behind.