By Spy Uganda Correspondent
North Korean President, Kim Jong-un has sentenced an official to death after he ordered cheap medical equipment to get a hospital up and running, it is claimed.
The despot is said to have been enraged when the victim, a deputy director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, arranged to have Chinese machinery imported.
According to reports in neighbouring South Korea, Kim insisted that medical gear at the Pyongyang General Hospital should be from Europe.
The hospital has been in development since last year but is still yet to open, despite Kim setting a deadline of October because of the Covid crisis, Seoul-based media reports.
Unable to source the required gear from Europe because of sanctions on the rogue regime, the official is said to have turned to China for help.
The machinery would have been delivered by the end of this month, it is understood.
Kim attended a groundbreaking ceremony at the hospital in March last year, boasting that it would be open within six months – but that has yet to happen.
Experts believe that although construction has progressed, officials have been unable to source the equipment needed to save lives.
Kim did not approve the contract that would have seen Chinese goods imported, and ordered the execution of the official, said to be in his 50s, when he found out about it.
Earlier this year, North Korea analyst Martyn Williams suggested that sourcing medical gear could be a problem.
The hospital was set to be opened in October – in time for the 75th anniversary of the ruling party being founded.
Mr Williams said: “We cannot judge interior progress. One of the main sticking points will be the procurement of medical equipment.
“Scanners and the like are not cheap and North Korea isn’t rich.
‘I understand it has been asking foreign governments for donations of equipment but that hasn’t come too much yet.”
As a result of the missed deadline, it is claimed, the North Korean government has removed the hospital completely from propaganda videos shown to North Korean citizens.
