North Koreans who have escaped to China say that many of the citizens in the North are losing faith in the Kim Jong-il regime.

The Los Angeles Times interviewed this month several North Korean women who fled from different parts of the country to China.

The paper quoted the escapees as saying that many of their fellow citizens are losing faith in the government after a disastrous currency revaluation wiped out savings and left food scarcer than at any time since the famine of the 90s.

The paper said Pyongyang reportedly executed the senior bureaucrat who was the architect of the currency revaluation in a bid to deflect public anger.

The paper also quoted the North Koreans as saying that party officials have issued rare public apologies over the mishandling of the currency reform.