Since his father's sudden death, reports have surfaced that Kim Jong-un has been purging the North Korean military of "unsound elements" in order to tighten his grip on power.

It's not a new policy; Kim Jong-il executed plenty of his father's advisors and dissenters after Kim Il-sung passed away in 1994.

What is new is that Kim Jong-un is using mortar rounds to execute individual officers instead of a firing squad, according to reports from South Korean media.

Kim Jong-un allegedly asked loyal officials to get rid of "anyone caught misbehaving during the mourning period for Kim Jong-il."

Kim Chol, the North Korean vice-defense minister, was reportedly caught "drinking and carousing" in January, a month after Kim Jong-il died.

Intelligence data submitted to the lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun, a member of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee, claimed that Chol was executed by firing squad.

But a source inside the South Korean government said that Kim Jong-un ordered those carrying out the sentence to leave "no trace of him behind, down to his hair."

The source added that "the official was placed on the spot where the round would hit, and the grisly execution obliterated him."

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