the North Korean regime executed the ex-minister of railways...

the North Korean regime executed the ex-minister of railways Kim Yong-sam on espionage charges and ex-finance minister Mun Il-bong over a botched currency reform in late 2009, it has belatedly emerged. A South Korean government official confirmed Kim's execution but was not clear about Mun's, saying, "We have relevant intelligence, which we are checking." According to a North Korean source, Kim, who was minister of railways between 1998 and 2008, was executed for involvement in a massive explosion at Yongchon Station in North Pyongan Province in April 2004 that allegedly targeted a special train carrying leader Kim Jong-il. Kim Yong-sam was accused of leaking information about the timetable of the train, which was returning from China. Kim Jong-il's travel itineraries are known only to his personal guards and secretaries and the railways minister. Mun, who was finance minister between 2000 and 2008, apparently took the fall for the botched currency reform alongside then director of the Workers Party's Planning and Finance Department Pak Nam-gi, who was executed in March 2010. "It seems Mun was executed because public discontent got worse even though, unlike Pak, he had nothing to do with the actual preparations for the currency reform," the source said.