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SEOUL - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) executed a former senior official last week as punishment for the country's botched currency reform, a news report said Thursday.

In November, North Korea re-denominated its currency as part of efforts to lower inflation and reassert control over the country's nascent market economy. However, the measure reportedly worsened the country's food situation by forcing the closure of markets and sparked anger among many people left with piles of worthless bills.

Pak Nam-gi, the ruling Workers' Party finance and planning department chief who spearheaded the currency reform, was executed by a firing squad in Pyongyang last week, ROK's Yonhap news agency reported, citing unidentified sources.

Pak was accused of ruining the nation's economy in a blunder that also damaged public opinion and had a negative impact on leader Kim Jong-il's plan to hand power over to his youngest son, Yonhap said.

Citing its sources, Yonhap said many DPRK people believe the government used Pak as a scapegoat for the failed currency reform.

Park Sang-hak, a DPRK defector in Seoul who is a key organizer of a campaign to send anti-government leaflets into the DPRK, said a contact there told him recently that there were rumors Pak was either executed or sent to a political prison.

DPRK has reopened hundreds of markets since the botched reform, but the prices of the few goods available have continued to rise, according to Lee Seung-yong, an official of Good Friends, a Buddhist-affiliated group that sends food and other aid to the DPRK.

ROK's Unification Ministry and National Intelligence Service, its main intelligence agency, said they could not confirm Pak's reported execution.

Pak was last mentioned by the DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency in January when he accompanied Kim on an inspection trip. Kim sacked Pak following arguments within the country's leadership over who should take responsibility for the currency fiasco, ROK media reported last month.

It is not unprecedented for the DPRK government to execute officials for policy failures.

REUTERS