Kim Jong Un's rule of fear in North Korea is leading to restlessness and lack of trust in the state among officials responsible for carrying out Pyongyang’s policy, Yonhap reported Thursday. File photo by Rodong Sinmun/Yonhap

SEOUL, July 2 (UPI) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's politics of fear is driving state officials stationed overseas to defect, and Pyongyang in response has ordered their return.

The rise in defections is prominent among mid-ranking state officials at overseas posts, a source well versed in North Korea affairs told Yonhap on Thursday.


The recent purge of Defense Minister Hyon Yong Chol has shaken officials across all ranks, South Korea press reported, but other executions indicate purges have increased substantially since Kim fully assumed power in 2012.

Seoul's spy agency said North Korea executed three state officials in 2012, but that number jumped to 30 in 2013 and 31 in 2014. In 2015, North Korea has executed eight, bringing the total number of state official executions to over 70.

The rule of fear in North Korea is leading to restlessness and lack of trust in the state among officials responsible for carrying out Pyongyang's policy, said the source.

The repatriation of mid-ranking state officials most prone to defection comes at a time when North Korea's top-level elites are leaning toward self-preservation. They prefer not to be blamed for any additional defections that take place abroad, according to South Korean newspaper Herald Business.

In the second half of 2014, Seoul accepted defectors who were identified as lower-ranking members of North Korea's Workers' Party. They said Kim's politics of fear compelled them to leave the country.

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More senior-level officials also have defected to South Korea, including a regional chief of North Korea's Taesong Bank, who managed high-level accounts at the country's import-export lender.