N.K. leader's key aide working at farm in northeast province: source

SEOUL, Nov. 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's key aide is believed to be receiving re-education at a farm in the country's northeast province as punishment, a source familiar with North Korean affairs said Wednesday.

"Choe Ryong-hae is believed to be living at a farm in Hamkyong Province starting this month," the source said, without elaborating on a specific location.

On Tuesday, Seoul's top spy agency told lawmakers that Kim sent the senior secretary of the Workers' Party to a rural cooperative farm to punish him for his responsibility for a water leakage at a newly built hydroelectric power plant.

The construction of the power station near the North's border with China was completed in October under Kim's direction.

Choe was also known to have had a disagreement with Kim over the country's youth policy, the National Intelligence Service added.

Choe's case may be another example of Kim's "reign of terror." Since coming to power, the North's leader has purged and executed scores of party and military officials to firmly cement his position.

But the agency added that despite the punishment, Choe would be able to be reinstated, given that the nature of his crime is seen as relatively lighter than that of Jang Song-thaek, who was executed in early 2013.

His whereabouts have been under intense media speculation since he was found to have been omitted from a list of a committee that prepared the state funeral of a North Korean military marshal in early November.

The 65-year-old is widely regarded as North Korea's point man on China and also one of Kim's close aides.

Choe was demoted in 1998 due to corruption allegations. In 2004, he also received re-education at a rural farm for the same reason.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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