Kim Jong Un sacked powerful uncle, executed two aides, South Korea says

South Korean intelligence believes that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's powerful uncle may have been dismissed from his posts last month and two of his aides executed, two Seoul lawmakers said Tuesday.

The lawmakers said they were told by South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) that Jang Song Thaek has not been seen publicly since Nov. 6, indicating he may have been sacked.

There was no official word from North Korea on Jang's fate, and the claim could not be independently verified.

Jang has reportedly been purged in the past, only to return to power. He has held numerous top posts and is married to Kim Jong Un's aunt, Kim Kyong Hui, the younger sister of late leader Kim Jong Il.

He was seen as a powerful influence as young leader Kim Jong Un consolidated power following his father Kim Jong Il's death in December 2011. Jang walked by Kim Jong Un's side as a hearse carried Kim Jong Il's body through Pyongyang, and over the past two years has appeared standing just behind his nephew at public events.

The South Korean intelligence service wouldn't confirm the two lawmakers' details about Jang, which came in a closed-door briefing. One of the lawmakers, Jung Chung-rae, said the NIS didn't tell him how it had obtained the information.

The other lawmaker, Cho Wonjin, said the spy agency reported that North Korean authorities were investigating corruption allegations involving Jang's aides and that they had been executed. South Korea's Yonhap News agency identified the executed aids as Ri Ryong-ha and Jang Soo-kil, senior officials in the ruling party's administration department. 

The move is likely to tip the balance in favor of another close aide — Choe Ryong Hae, the top political operative for the army, which could mean a symbolic victory for the 1.2-million-strong military.

South Korean intelligence officials have erred previously in predicting changes in the secretive North, and senior North Korean officials have been known to occasionally disappear from state media reports and then reappear.

Jang in recent years has served in top party and military posts, including vice chairmanship of the powerful National Defense Commission and held membership in the ruling Workers' Party's political bureau. He also served as a leading economic policy official in charge of the push to attract foreign investment, traveling in 2012 to China to discuss the establishment of special economic zones.

Wire services