Hyon Yong-chol was a North Korean general and Workers' Party of Korea politician.
17 Facts About Hyon Yong-chol
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Hyon Yong-chol served as Minister of Defence from 2014 to 2015.
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North Korean media have stated that Hyon was born in January 1949 and joined the military in 1966.
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Hyon Yong-chol was promoted to the rank of four-star general alongside Kim Jong Un, Kim Kyong-hui, Kim Kyong-ok, Choe Ryong-hae, and Choe Pu-il in September 2010.
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Hyon Yong-chol was on the national funeral committee in the wake of Kim Jong Il's death in December 2011.
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Hyon Yong-chol was named as a member of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea at the third party conference.
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In February 2012, Hyon Yong-chol received the Order of Kim Jong Il.
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Hyon Yong-chol was promoted to the rank of Vice Marshal of the KPA in July 2012, two days after Chief of the General Staff Ri Yong-ho was relieved of his duties.
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Hyon Yong-chol was identified as vice-chairman of the WPK Central Military Commission on 26 July 2012.
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On 31 March 2013, Hyon Yong-chol was made a Politburo alternate member, though he did not take Ri Yong-ho's former seat on the Politburo Presidium.
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Hyon Yong-chol was transferred to command the 5th Army Corps in May 2013.
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Hyon Yong-chol was called back to Pyongyang in June 2014 to serve as minister of the People's Armed Forces.
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South Korea's National Intelligence Service initially reported on May 12,2015, that Hyon Yong-chol was purged and publicly executed near the end of April 2015 at Kanggon Military Training Area near Pyongyang.
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Hours after the initial report, South Korea's National Intelligence Service revised its statement, saying that although it has intelligence information suggesting that Hyon Yong-chol was executed, it had not been able to verify that.
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Doubts were raised because footage of Hyon Yong-chol was still being shown on North Korean television.
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Hyon Yong-chol was mentioned in the North Korean newspaper Rodong Sinmun the day he was supposed to have been executed.
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Tae Yong-ho, a North Korean diplomat who defected in August 2016 from the North Korean embassy in London, said that Hyon Yong-chol's execution was the result of wiretapped conversations at his home; and that wiretapping high-ranking officials has become the norm.