NK Official Executed Over Currency Reform

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Sat, December 9, 2023 | 18:08

NK Official Executed Over Currency Reform

Posted : 2010-03-18 20:49

Updated : 2010-03-18 20:49

North Korea executed a former top finance official last week, holding him responsible for the country's currency reform fiasco that has caused massive inflation, worsened food shortages and dented leader Kim Jong-il's efforts to transfer power to a son, Yonhap News Agency reported Thursday.

Pak Nam-gi, who was reportedly sacked in January as chief of the planning and finance department of the ruling Workers' Party, was executed at a shooting range in Pyongyang, according to Yonhap.

"All the blame has been poured on Pak after the currency reform failure exacerbated public sentiment and had a bad effect" on leader Kim Jong-il's plan to hand power over to his third son Kim Jong-un, one source told Yonhap on condition of anonymity.

Pak, a 77-year-old technocrat, was charged with "deliberately ruining the national economy" as a "son of a big landowner," the sources said.

But an overwhelming number of people believe the charge serves only to scapegoat Pak for the currency revaluation, which fueled already-bad inflation and dried up food and basic supplies for the public, the sources said.

Pak, a graduate of engineering schools in the former Soviet Union and one of its satellite states, disappeared from North Korea's official media reports in January after having accompanied Kim Jong-il on a number of his field inspections.

Pak's execution is the latest in a series of punishments the North has reportedly meted out to its elite for failed economic reforms. South Korean officials and analysts believe North Korean leader Kim has been pushing a series of bold economic drives in recent months to pave the ground for power transfer to his son, after the regime shored up its military self-confidence by conducting its second nuclear test in May last year.

Pak visited South Korea in 2002 as head of a committee overseeing economic planning, leading a delegation of bureaucrats and inspecting South Korean industrial facilities.

북 경제통 박남기 총살당해

북한의 박남기 전 노동당 계획재정부장이 화폐개혁 실패의 책임자로 몰려 지난주 평양에서 총살된 것으로 전해졌다.

복수의 대북소식통은 18일 "북한 당국이 지난주 평양시 순안구역의 한 사격장에서 박 전 부장을 총살했다"며 "화폐개혁의 실패로 민심이 악화되고 김정은 후계체제에도 나쁜 영향을 미치자 모든 책임을 박 전 부장에게 씌워 반혁명분자로 처형했다"고 연합뉴스에 밝혔다.

이들 소식통은 또 "박 전 부장에게 `혁명대오에 잠입한 대지주의 아들로서 계획적으로 국가경제를 말아먹었다'는 죄목이 씌워졌다"면서 "1990년대 `고난의 행군' 때 처형된 서관희 전 노동당 농업담당 비서 사건과 닮은 꼴"이라고 말했다.

이들 소식통은 그러나 "북한의 엘리트들은 물론 일반 주민들도 박 전 부장에게 씌워진 죄목에 대해 거의 믿지 않고 있다"면서 "북한 지도부가 박남기를 희생양으로 삼았다고 보는 분위기"라고 전했다.

박 전 부장의 경우 지난 1월 중순 중앙당 간부 전원이 모여 자아비판과 상호비판을 하는 `중앙당 대논쟁' 자리에서 호된 비판을 받은 뒤 곧바로 구속돼 국가안전보위부의 취조를 받은 것으로 알려졌다.

박 전 부장은 올해 초까지만 해도 자강도 희천발전소 건설현장(1월4일), 함경북도 김책제철연합기업소 종업원 궐기모임(1월9일) 등 김정일 국방위원장의 경제 부분 현지지도를 거의 빠짐없이 수행했으나, 김책제철소 궐기모임을 끝으로 북한 언론매체 보도에서 자취를 감췄다.

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