North Korea executes major general for criticising Kim's order as 'ignorant of reality'

North Korea’s dictatorship on Monday executed the military’s top major general for criticizing the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's military granaries distribution order, calling it 'ignorant of reality. The high-ranking military cadre, in charge of the logistics headquarters of Training Camp 815 was court-martialed and shot last week on July 18 on orders of Kim, a source familiar with the development in North Korea told N. Korean newspaper Daily NK. North Korean leader’s ‘special order’ required the release of military storage of the grains and rice for public distribution amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which the communist nation denied had spread in the country. 

The report of the execution of the military general was learned after authorities sent a “notification” to military officers boasting the killing as the example of “stern judgment.” Daily NK reported, citing the source that spoke on condition of anonymity that the notification read that on orders of the ruling party, the commander, who “indiscreetly” complained that “military granaries are facing more serious problems than the food [shortage] issue facing the people,” was executed.

The North Korean regime openly flaunted the execution to infuse fear among the military officers. The message emphasized, “those who outright challenge party policy will receive no forgiveness, regardless of who they are.” 

The now executed military major general had questioned Kim’s decision to release the wartime grain reserves labelling it as “insufficient sense of reality.” His views were largely “sectarian” which caused concerns among the ruling authorities. He had said,  “If they’re going to squeeze us while remaining ignorant of the situation in lower-level rear areas, from where on earth are we going to produce all that rice, not sand from the river bed?” Daily NK reported. After ordering his execution the North Korean regime notified "military officers ranked department head and above" about the strict punishment served to the military major general as they alerted others by sending a warning message. 

Kim asked military’s Political Guidance Department to probe matter 

According to the newspaper, Kim had ordered the punishment of high-ranking cadres in charge at a meeting of the politburo held last month on June 29 after he learned that things were bad with the military stores of grains. He had instructed the military’s Political Guidance Department and Military Security Command to inspect the conditions in the low-level logistics units. “There is talk of a bloodbath of purges and sackings in the name of drawing out the ideological poison of military sectarianism,” the paper reported, adding that such ‘merciless punishments’ within the military were on the rise with the grain storage controversy.

Military officers reportedly asked how “shooting the logistics commanders and sending military officers to political prison camps” solved rice shortage issues. Sources meanwhile informed the reporters that the military grain supplies “have been empty since the time of Kim Jong Il,” adding, “it’s a bigger problem that the government is starting to get a grip on conditions on the ground only now, 10 years after Kim Jong Un took power.”

(With ANI inputs)