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North Korea’s tyrant ordered his death after he was accused of planning a coup.

Kim had a giant fish tank built inside Ryongsong Residence, one of his presidential palaces, after ordering aides to develop new methods of execution.

The victim’s arms and torso were cut open with knives before he was thrown into the tank.

Sources said it was unclear whether the general was killed by the fish, died from his wounds or drowned.

The researchers are believed to have come up with several execution methods designed to scare potential plotters.

It is believed they got the idea from the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, in which the villain Karl Stromberg executes opponents by dropping them into a shark-filled aquarium.

Kim’s aquarium is filled with several hundred piranhas imported from Brazil.

They have razor-sharp teeth and are capable of stripping flesh from a corpse in a matter of minutes

Other execution methods have included blasting traitors to pieces with an anti-tank gun, feeding them alive to tigers, beheadings, hangings and burning prisoners to death with flame throwers.

(Image: GETTY)

Since Kim came to power in 2011, he is believed to have bumped off 16 senior aides. Hundreds more North Korean citizens have also been killed.

His victims include his army chief, the boss of North Korea’s Central Bank and the ambassadors to Cuba and Malaysia.

In 2016, Kim Yong-jin, the Minister for Education in North Korea, was reportedly executed by firing squad for having a bad attitude.

A UK intelligence source said: “Kim rules by fear. Many enemies of the state are executed in public.

"He wants everyone to know, including his most trusted aides, that they are at risk of suffering a very unpleasant death if he suspects they are treasonous.

(Image: GETTY)

“He has executed members of his own family and killed senior government officials for not clapping loudly enough during one of his speeches.”

The source added: “The use of piranhas is classic Kim. He is all about using fear and terror as a political tool. Whether or not the use of piranhas is an efficient way of killing someone won’t bother him.”

There have been documented accounts of piranhas attacking humans and other large animals, but the attacks are rarely fatal.

In most fatal cases, victims either drowned or were dead when they were eaten by the fish.

In March it emerged Kim reportedly fired his personal photographer for blocking the view of his neck – for just three seconds.