Kim Jong-un has executed a second official in just five days over a launch delay at North Korea's test missile site
The unnamed executive allegedly took responsibility for setbacks at the Punggye-ri nuclear base which led to the date of a rocket launch being pushed back.
Five days ago, a high ranking official once described as the 'second most powerful man in North Korea' disappeared from public life, sparking speculation he may have been executed by death squads.
It is understood the most recent victim was the director of Bureau 131 - a man in charge of the building and running of the nuclear base.
Reports in the Japanese paper Asahi Shimbun suggest the director has been at the helm since it was formed.
The suspected execution was handed down over a delay to Pyongyang's sixth missile test and the subsequent collapse of tunnels which killed 200 workers.
A source told the paper: 'It seems he took the blame as the prolonged mining of the nuclear facility pushed back the test date to September when it was initially set for spring.'
Last month, Seoul warned that one more North Korean nuclear detonation could destroy its mountain test site and trigger a radiation leak.
South Korea says any future nuclear test by Kim Jong-un risks collapsing the location set aside for launching missiles.
Seoul detected several earthquakes near the hermit nation's nuclear test site in the country's northeast after its sixth and most powerful bomb explosion in September.
Experts say the quakes suggest the area is now too unstable to conduct more tests there.
US experts issued a similar warning, stating a second nuclear test site used by North Korea in the country's north west could cave in but that it won't be abandoned.
Five of Pyongyang's recent tests have been carried out under Mount Mantap at the Punggye-ri military base, which is located in the north west of North Korea.
But now the base is said to be suffering from 'Tired Mountain Syndrome' after three small earthquakes occurred nearby after the blasts.
Last week, speculation was rife of the execution of General Hwang Pyong-so, who was once the most senior military official in the hermit state as a Vice-Marshall after the supreme leader
It came days after Kim Jong-un visited the significant Mt. Paektu, a sign that suggested he was planning to execute a top official.
Such visits to the mystical mountain often precede important decisions by North Koreanleaders.
Pyong-so was reported to have been expelled from the party for 'taking bribes' and has not been seen since October.
His deputy Kim Wong-hong is said to have been banished to a prison camp.
The South Korean JoongAng Ilbo reported: 'If Hwang was indeed kicked out of the Workers' Party, it would practically mean the end of his political career, and possibly his life, though it is unknown whether or not he is still alive.'
'Kim visited the mountain and ordered the site managers to construct hospitable accommodations on the mountain for visitors,' the state-run KCNA reported.
In November 2013, the despot visited the mountain with his aides a month before he executed top officials including Jang Song-thaek, his uncle and political guardian.
Kim visited the mountain again in April 2015, before executing Hyon Yong-chol, a former defense chief.
He had also made a pilgrimage after North Korea's fifth nuclear test in September 2016
Pictures show Kim wandering around on the snow-capped mountain with hardly a bead of sweat and wearing spotless and shiny shoes. Kim made a trip to the summit after North Korea's fifth nuclear test in September 2016.
Kim Jong-un's father] Kim Jong-il did the same, he visited the mountain right before announcing in 1974 his list of 10 social decorum,' said a South Korean government insider.
'Kim also visited the mountain just before executing Kim Tong-kyu, then-senior official for international affairs, in 1977,' they added.
Mount Paektu has been decreed as the 'sacred' birthplace of the secretive state's first dictator, Kim's grandfather.
Pictures released by the regime show Kim in the snow on North Korea's border with China, which the regime rewrote history to claim was birthplace of Kim Il-Sung, the Communist who ruled from after the Second World War until 1994.
He was in fact born in the Soviet Union, but the mountain, has long been integral to the country's identity.
It is reputedly the birthplace of the earliest Korean leader ever recorded, Dangun, who according to legend founded the early kingdom of Gojoseon in 2333BC.
The mountain is believed to be the site of the deadliest volcano eruption in history and there are fears it may erupt again as a result of North Korea's nuclear weapons testing.
A thousand years ago it exploded so violently that ash fell as far away as northern Japan.
Last year it emerged Kim Jong-un had ordered 340 executions in five years since seizing power - with almost half being senior officials from his own government, a report has claimed.
The North Korean dictator has used capital punishment to consolidate his position, according to the Institute for National Security Strategy, a South Korean think tank.
Of the 340 people he has put to death since 2011, 140 of them are said to have been senior government officials, the group claimed in a report called 'The misgoverning of Kim Jong Un's five years in power'.
In October last year, South Korea's spy agency reported that the despot had ordered the public execution of 64 'traitors' up to that point in 2016.
This sharp rise in the execution of officials was thought to have been a result of the dictator's increasing paranoia about his personal safety, the National Intelligence Service said.
It even exceeds the bloodshed of his father's early rule, they added.
Kim Jong-un 'executes' another official over launch delay | Daily Mail Online
The unnamed executive allegedly took responsibility for setbacks at the Punggye-ri nuclear base which led to the date of a rocket launch being pushed back.
Five days ago, a high ranking official once described as the 'second most powerful man in North Korea' disappeared from public life, sparking speculation he may have been executed by death squads.
It is understood the most recent victim was the director of Bureau 131 - a man in charge of the building and running of the nuclear base.
Reports in the Japanese paper Asahi Shimbun suggest the director has been at the helm since it was formed.
The suspected execution was handed down over a delay to Pyongyang's sixth missile test and the subsequent collapse of tunnels which killed 200 workers.
A source told the paper: 'It seems he took the blame as the prolonged mining of the nuclear facility pushed back the test date to September when it was initially set for spring.'
Last month, Seoul warned that one more North Korean nuclear detonation could destroy its mountain test site and trigger a radiation leak.
South Korea says any future nuclear test by Kim Jong-un risks collapsing the location set aside for launching missiles.
Seoul detected several earthquakes near the hermit nation's nuclear test site in the country's northeast after its sixth and most powerful bomb explosion in September.
Experts say the quakes suggest the area is now too unstable to conduct more tests there.
US experts issued a similar warning, stating a second nuclear test site used by North Korea in the country's north west could cave in but that it won't be abandoned.
Five of Pyongyang's recent tests have been carried out under Mount Mantap at the Punggye-ri military base, which is located in the north west of North Korea.
But now the base is said to be suffering from 'Tired Mountain Syndrome' after three small earthquakes occurred nearby after the blasts.
Last week, speculation was rife of the execution of General Hwang Pyong-so, who was once the most senior military official in the hermit state as a Vice-Marshall after the supreme leader
It came days after Kim Jong-un visited the significant Mt. Paektu, a sign that suggested he was planning to execute a top official.
Such visits to the mystical mountain often precede important decisions by North Koreanleaders.
Pyong-so was reported to have been expelled from the party for 'taking bribes' and has not been seen since October.
His deputy Kim Wong-hong is said to have been banished to a prison camp.
The South Korean JoongAng Ilbo reported: 'If Hwang was indeed kicked out of the Workers' Party, it would practically mean the end of his political career, and possibly his life, though it is unknown whether or not he is still alive.'
'Kim visited the mountain and ordered the site managers to construct hospitable accommodations on the mountain for visitors,' the state-run KCNA reported.
In November 2013, the despot visited the mountain with his aides a month before he executed top officials including Jang Song-thaek, his uncle and political guardian.
Kim visited the mountain again in April 2015, before executing Hyon Yong-chol, a former defense chief.
He had also made a pilgrimage after North Korea's fifth nuclear test in September 2016
Pictures show Kim wandering around on the snow-capped mountain with hardly a bead of sweat and wearing spotless and shiny shoes. Kim made a trip to the summit after North Korea's fifth nuclear test in September 2016.
Kim Jong-un's father] Kim Jong-il did the same, he visited the mountain right before announcing in 1974 his list of 10 social decorum,' said a South Korean government insider.
'Kim also visited the mountain just before executing Kim Tong-kyu, then-senior official for international affairs, in 1977,' they added.
Mount Paektu has been decreed as the 'sacred' birthplace of the secretive state's first dictator, Kim's grandfather.
Pictures released by the regime show Kim in the snow on North Korea's border with China, which the regime rewrote history to claim was birthplace of Kim Il-Sung, the Communist who ruled from after the Second World War until 1994.
He was in fact born in the Soviet Union, but the mountain, has long been integral to the country's identity.
It is reputedly the birthplace of the earliest Korean leader ever recorded, Dangun, who according to legend founded the early kingdom of Gojoseon in 2333BC.
The mountain is believed to be the site of the deadliest volcano eruption in history and there are fears it may erupt again as a result of North Korea's nuclear weapons testing.
A thousand years ago it exploded so violently that ash fell as far away as northern Japan.
Last year it emerged Kim Jong-un had ordered 340 executions in five years since seizing power - with almost half being senior officials from his own government, a report has claimed.
The North Korean dictator has used capital punishment to consolidate his position, according to the Institute for National Security Strategy, a South Korean think tank.
Of the 340 people he has put to death since 2011, 140 of them are said to have been senior government officials, the group claimed in a report called 'The misgoverning of Kim Jong Un's five years in power'.
In October last year, South Korea's spy agency reported that the despot had ordered the public execution of 64 'traitors' up to that point in 2016.
This sharp rise in the execution of officials was thought to have been a result of the dictator's increasing paranoia about his personal safety, the National Intelligence Service said.
It even exceeds the bloodshed of his father's early rule, they added.
Kim Jong-un 'executes' another official over launch delay | Daily Mail Online
