On January 13th a conservative South Korean daily newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, accused the North of instituting a new reign of terror to enforce Kim Jong-eun's succession. It reported that one defector source had claimed that public executions tripled last year, to at least 60. Capital offences were said to include robbery, people-trafficking, the illicit use of Chinese mobile phones and unauthorised possession of US dollars. Whereas in the past many North Koreans have slipped into China, to find work or escape the Northern regime, there is now by some accounts a new shoot-to-kill policy on illegal border crossings.

Elite figures are not safe either. On January 10th the same paper, citing "a high-level North Korean source", claimed that in December the State Security Department (SSD) had detained or executed nearly 200 senior officials, many of whom were working for companies under the nominally ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) or the Korean People's Army (KPA). It was also said to have conducted house raids at dawn in search of illegal US dollar stashes, finding US$1m in one home. Kim Jong-eun reportedly ordered the arrest as a traitor of anyone found in possession of more than US$50,000.

These unconfirmed reports must be treated with caution, but the article revealed victims' identities. These are said to include Ri Jong-ho, the head of Taehung, a major trading enterprise; Pak Jong-su, the head of a coal-trading firm owned by the KPA; and the unnamed heads of two further companies, Sogyong Trading and "Number 54", run by the finance and accounting section of the WPK and the Ministry of People's Armed Forces (the defence ministry) respectively. The head of Taehung's Wonsan branch, Ri Chol-su, allegedly jumped to his death during SSD interrogation on charges of espionage and illegally amassing wealth.

The article further claimed that this reign of terror was targeted at two influential figures: General O Kuk-ryol, a vice-chairman of the top executive body, the National Defence Commission (NDC), who once headed the WPK's operations department, and Kim Jong-il's brother-in-law, Jang Song-taek, the director of the party's administration department, who is viewed as a potential regent for Kim Jong-eun. However, on January 24th Jang Song-taek was seen at Kim Jong-il's dinner for Naguib Sawiris, the head of an Egyptian telecommunications firm, Orascom Telecom, one of North Korea's most prominent foreign investors. His attendance suggests that he, at least, remains secure for the time being.