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Via Brian in Jeollanamdo comes news that the former North Korean point man on South Korean relations has been executed:

South Korean Vice Unification Minister Lee Kwan-se, left, shakes hands with his North Korean counterpart Choe Sung Chol, upon his arrival in Kaesong, North Korea, to hold preparatory talks for second inter-Korean summit Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2007. North and South Korean officials met Tuesday to work out arrangements for a summit between their leaders later this month, the Unification Ministry said.

North Korea executed its point-man on South Korea last year, holding him accountable for instituting “wrong” South Korean policies during previous liberal governments, Yonhap News Agency, and MBC, the nation’s second largest broadcaster, reported Monday.

The news agency said that Choe Sung-chol, former vice chairman of the North’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, who disappeared from public sight early last year, was reportedly executed last year for his “wrong judgments” on Seoul.

The execution is widely seen as a sign that North Korea has moved toward a hard-line policy after South Korea seemingly halted a decade-long engagement policy toward Pyeongyang.  (……….)

Choe, also a deputy director of the Workers’ Party inter-Korean department, came into the public spotlight in 2007, when he escorted Roh throughout his visit to Pyeongyang for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Choe is known to have played a key role in arranging the summit

Citing another informed source, MBC said the North Korean government held Choe accountable for the unwanted impact of its dependence on the capitalist South, which has grown with economic exchanges.  [Korea Times]

I guess Choe Song-chol made too many promises that Chung Dong-young would get elected over Lee Myung-bak and it cost him his life.  Actually, I think this is just further signs of realignment going on in North Korea right now with the military taking more control away from the Worker’s Party and using failed South Korean policies in order to purge some people.  Then again with North Korea who the heck knows?