North Korea’s ruthless leader, Kim Jong-un, has sentenced government official to death after he ordered cheap medical equipment for a hospital -UK media, Mirror reported.
The hospital has been in development since last year but is still yet to open, despite Kim setting a deadline of October 2020 because of the COVID-19 crisis, Seoul-based Daily NK reports.
Kim, according to the report, is said to have been enraged when the deputy director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, arranged to have Chinese machinery imported for the hospital.
According to reports in neighboring South Korea, Kim insisted that medical gear at the Pyongyang General Hospital should be from Europe.
Unable to source the required gear from Europe because of sanctions on North Korea, the official is said to have turned to China for help. The machinery would have been delivered by the end of this month, it is reported.
Kim attended a groundbreaking ceremony at the hospital in March last year, boasting that it would be open within six months – but that has yet to happen.
Experts believe that although construction has progressed, officials have been unable to source the equipment needed to save lives.
Kim also did not approve the contract that would have seen Chinese goods imported, and ordered the execution of the official, said to be in his 50s, when he found out about it.
Early this month, the North Korean dictator executed a high ranking official in his government after his department reportedly failed to make satisfactory progress.
Executions under Kim Jong un make a long list of officials he has killed in one of the highly ranked authoritarian regimes of this time.
Read more on the executions allegedly sanctioned by Kim Jong un since 2012.
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un kills minister for Complaining about workload
