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Did North Korea Execute One Of Its Pop Stars?
There are reports indicating that the North Korean government recently executed several people that were arrested on pornography charges, including pop star Hyon Song-wol, who was once a member of the Pochonbo Electronic Music Band.
Like all other news coming out of North Korea, details are sketchy on the apparent execution of Song-wol. South Korean news outlet Chosun Ilbo says the singer “was among a dozen well-known North Korean performers” who were executed by a machine-gun equipped firing squad on Aug. 20.
Adding to the intrigue is that Song-wol was an ex-girlfriend of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un about a decade ago. That puts the relationship back in the days before his father’s death when he was merely a lunatic-in-training.
Before being executed, Song-wol along with member of the Unhasu Orchestra and “singers, musicians and dancers with the Wangjaesan Light Music Band” were reportedly arrested Aug. 17 and charged with making and selling sex tapes.
A source told Chosun Ilbo that friends and family members of those executed were sent to prison camps “under North Korea’s barbaric principle of guilt by association.”