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North Korea’s army was deeply split over whether to accept the command of Kim Jong-un, a former officer has disclosed, giving a possible clue to the tensions lying behind the young leader’s calls to war.

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Lieut Kim, 42, said he had been forced to flee the country after he murdered a rival officer as the factions within his army unit battled for control.

“I killed a three-star company commander, the same rank as me,” he said.

“He was the head of the faction supporting Kim Jong-un. There were two fights. In the first fight, they surrounded us and arrested a lot of people. But I got away and gathered others from the barracks. We found them and I shot the commander. After that, I escaped.”

The battles occurred at the end of 2011, shortly before Kim Jong-un succeeded his father as the “supreme commander” of the 1.2 million-strong Korean People’s Army.

“It was before he came to power, but we all knew for a long time that he was going to be made the leader. There were a lot of people who were against him. But everyone in that faction got arrested after he came to power,” said Lieut Kim.