[18/March/2010]

TOKYO, March 18 (Saba) -- North Korea executed a former top finance official last week, holding him responsible for failure of last year's currency reform that has caused massive inflation and worsened food shortages and dented leader Kim Jong-il's efforts to transfer power to a son, sources said Thursday, according to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).

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, Yonhap said, citing multiple sources.

"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. Pak, a 77-year-old technocrat, was charged with "deliberately ruining the national economy," the report said.

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 Jong-il has been pushing a series of bold economic drives in recent months to pave the ground for power transfer to his son, the report added.

Saba