N Korea rejects reports of high-level defections

North Korea responded angrily on Thursday to reports in the South Korean media about a recent spate of high-level defections and executions, calling them Nazi-style propaganda aimed at tarnishing Pyongyang’s image.

The reports in a number of publications have been accompanied by speculation that the defections signal a growing instability in the North Korean leadership under Kim Jong-Un. In a lengthy commentary, the North’s official KCNA news agency dismissed the reports as wild rumour and “sheer lies”. “The false propaganda ... is a foolish and base politically-motivated conspiratorial farce” aimed at giving the impression of a mood of “uneasiness and horror” within the ranks of the North’s top officials, it said.

KCNA specifically rubbished a report about the recent defection of a top-ranking general to the South. Channel A - a subsidiary of the conservative Dong-A Ilbo daily - reported that Lieutenant General Pak <g data-gr-id="12">Sung-Won,</g> had escaped to Seoul via Moscow.