North Korea’s Chief of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) General Staff Ri Yong Gil was reportedly executed sometime earlier this month, Yonhap News Agency wrote on Wednesday.

But North Korea experts have said not to make early judgments on Ri’s whereabouts, as there is always a chance that he might appear again.

“We need to check solid facts before making a judgment on whether Ri was purged or not. Unless confirmed, there is always a chance that he might appear again in the North Korean media,” Kim Dong-yup, researcher at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies told NK News.

“But under the assumption