North Korea neither denied nor confirmed the execution of its defense chief Hyon Yong-chol in its first response to the South Korean spy agency’s recent announcement that Hyon was executed.
 
Instead, North Korea's main propaganda Web site Uriminzokkiri, threatened on Sunday that Pyongyang will use force against the South unless Seoul halts attempts to insult the North’s highest dignity. The site criticized South Korea for staging a war of public opinion by saying that Pyongyang is using "reign of terror" or "politics of purge."
 
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said last week that some 70 senior officials in North Korea have been executed since Kim Jong-un took power in 2011.