The feared North Korean general dubbed the “Angel of Death” is promoted to oversee the brutal purge of Kim Jong-un’s enemies

A feared North Korean general dubbed the “Angel of Death” has been promoted to oversee the brutal purge of Kim Jong-un’s enemies.

Jo Kyong-chol was the evil mastermind behind the purge of high-ranking officials like the dictator’s uncle, Jang Song-thaek, who was killed in 2013.

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The cold-blooded killer of North Korea’s Military Security Command (MSC) has now been promoted to the rogue state’s most powerful decision-making body – the Central Military Commission (CMC).

Michael Madden, a leading North Korea expert, described the new role of the “shadowy” general.

He said: “We can associate him overall with overseeing the process of imprisoning and executing high-ranking North Korean military officers and party cadres.

“When we talk about prisons for North Korean elites, we’re talking about places that have no natural light, and if you go into one, you don’t get out alive.”

He continued: “In terms of executions, they are usually carried out with three bullets from a firing squad.

“Of course, we have reports of more creative methods of taking down disobedient disaffected ones, such as using anti-aircraft artillery fired at point-blank range.

“Another report says that some military officers were pinned to the ground and run over by military tanks.

“But that’s not the norm, more like sending a message to North Korean elites to mold themselves around the principle of killing a chicken to scare the monkeys.”

Madden, a staffer at the Stimson Center in Washington DC and operator of the North Korea Leadership Watch website, claims the move looked more like a crackdown.

“This indicates that Kim Jong-un is tightening control,” he said.

“It could be that he and General Jo are targeting certain cohorts in the military.

“But that would be an incomplete picture. The CMC also has some oversight of civilian officials in the party and state.

“And the MSC that Jo runs can monitor or investigate civilian officers.

“In short, his appointment as CMC is intended to serve as a warning to North Korean officials of all ranks and stations.”

The soulless general was part of a group that helped Kim Jong-un consolidate his power after the death of Kim Jong-Il, the leader’s father and predecessor, in 2011.

It comes as satellite imagery suggests the North Korean tyrant is preparing to detonate several more nuclear warheads some five years after the last A-bomb tests.

Analysts say work on one mountain tunnel has been completed and is ready for a test, and work on another tunnel is underway, meaning more are planned.

North Korea observers warned Kim could detonate a nuclear bomb at any time, although the US pledged to “act swiftly” to any such threat.

The satellite images show the Punggye-ri proving ground last Sunday, June 13th.

Ongoing rebuilding and preparations can be seen in an area called Tunnel #3, according to a report by Beyond Parallel, a project by the Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.

This site is “apparently now complete and ready for an often speculated seventh nuclear test,” say the authors.

Analysts also spotted new construction at Tunnel No. 4, which collapsed after North Korea mothballed the site in 2018.

The report states, “The latest image shows new evidence of activity beneath the entrance to Tunnel #4,” strongly suggesting that “an effort is being made to reactivate it for possible future testing.”

And it concludes: “The timing of a seventh nuclear test is now solely in the hands of Kim Jong-un.”

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