North Korea second most powerful man sent to work in mine for 'ideological re-education'

SEOUL, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- North Korea's Choe Ryong Hae is serving a sentence in the mines of South Pyongan Province, where he is receiving "ideological re-education."

Choe, North Korea's Workers' Party Secretary and formerly Pyongyang's No. 2 man, was purged in early November for a power plant malfunction near Mount Paektu.

A source inside North Korea told South Korean outlet CBS No Cut News Monday that Choe had been sentenced to hard labor at a mine and dismissed previous South Korea reports Kim Jong Un had sent the 65-year-old Choe to a cooperative farm.

"Secretary Choe is receiving ideological re-education northeast of Pyongyang, in a mining region in the county of Songchon in South Pyongan Province," the source said, adding, "His wife, his son and spouse also have left Pyongyang."

The source said following Choe's purge a portion of the Workers' Party also was dismissed. Unlike Choe, who could return to his official position, the other cadres will probably not get their jobs back.

Choe was once demoted for corruption in 1998 and was sent away for ideological re-education in 2004.

He went missing again in early November, when his name was not included on a roster of top official names that Kim made public at the funeral of Ri Ul Sol of the Korean People's Army.

Choe's disappearance was unexpected. Choe was Kim's representative to Beijing during China's Victory Day parade and was present at a meeting between North Korean and Cuban officials in September.

Hwang Pyong So, North Korea's top political officer for the Korean People's Army, has unofficially replaced Choe, Yonhap reported.