North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered many executions and purges ever since he assumed power completely and has also spent a huge amount of the country's fortune on nuclear weapons, the South Korean capital's spy agency has said.
The agency reportedly said that Kim may have dismissed or killed around 340 North Koreans, and many of them include government officials, Yonhap reported on Thursday.
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According to the agency reports, the North Korean leader assumed power on December 30, 2011, around two weeks post-the-announcement of his father's death. Seoul's agency has covered the five years of his rule since then.
The agency report includes mass executions of hundreds of high-ranking officials in the government, including the sentencing of Kim's uncle-in-law, Jang Song Thaek. According to the agency reports, the sentencing of Jang was a part of a plan to consolidate his position as the third-generation North Korean ruler by inheritance.
The South Korean agency report states that there was a significant increase in the number of purges and executions ever since Kim assumed power.
"There were 3 [purged or executed] in 2012, more than 30 in 2013, greater than 40 in 2014, and more than 60 in 2015. The numbers show a rapid increase," the report said.
Reports also state that after the sudden execution of Defence Minister Hyon Yong Chol in 2015, the North Korean nation had "temporarily refrained" from mass purges, however it later resumed the executions of senior officials in the government in 2016.
Seoul estimates that around $300 million has been allocated to weapons development in the nation and about $180 million has been spent in erecting 460 statues or monuments glorifying the Kims.
Fresh reports on Monday had also stated that the North Korean leader has asked the Christians in his country to forget Jesus Christ and commemorate his grandmother instead.
Reports state that Kim's grandmother, Kim Jong-suk, was incidentally born on Christmas eve and is considered as "the Sacred Mother of the Revolution" in the communist state because of her contributions as anti-Japanese guerrilla and activist. According to The New York Post, Kim Jong-suk was the wife of North Korea's first dictator Kim II Sung and died under mysterious circumstances in 1949.
