Hyon Yong Chol (left) and Kim Jon Un (right).

The National Intelligence Service in Seoul informed its lawmakers that North Korea executed their defense chief with an anti-aircraft missile at a firing range. This is the latest high level execution in North Korea under Kim Jong Un’s reign.

Hyon Yong Choi was the head of the North’s military and was charged with treason. He was charged for disobeying Kim by falling asleep during his speech in a meeting with officials. His execution was watched by thousands according to a report by the NIS.

It is not confirmed how the NIS got this information and it’s almost impossible to get any kind of verification from North Korea since they keep everything in utmost secrecy. However, the NIS is quite sure this information will be confirmed soon enough since they’ve got it from multiple sources who are very confident of its credibility.

This is not the first execution of a senior official in Korea. Since Kim came to power in 2011 around 70 members of his government were killed, 15 of them were in senior positions within the country. Right now the situation in Pyongyang seems calm, but if its leader continues with purges of this kind it’s very possible there will be some disruption of his rule.

Michael Madden, an expert on the country’s leadership in Washington said “There is no clear or present danger to Kim Jong Un’s leadership or regime stability, but if this continues to happen into next year, then we should seriously start to think about revising our scenarios on North Korea.”

According to NIS information Hyon was executed at Kanggon Military Training Area, 22 kilometers north from Pyongyang, he was 66 years old. Material provided by the Human Rights Committee confirm the use of the same location for an execution last October. ZPU-4 anti-aircraft guns with an 8,000 meter range were used for the execution pointing at the victim from just 30 meters away.

Another official close to Hyon confirmed that he and Kim already had their disputes in the past. It’s believed that Hyon disobeyed orders several times and had started arguments with the leader. He was arrested in April and executed three days later without a chance of prosecution.

The reason why NSI’s news can’t be trusted 100 percent is the fact that Hyon visited Moscow late this April for a security meeting as a member of North Korea’s delegation and the NSI’s report came shortly afterwards. Due to the Kim families near absolute power and its closed policy it will take some time until any of these details can be confirmed.