NORTH Korean leader Kim Jong Il has fired his top TV official for airing a series of advertisements, apparently out of concern that the commercials represented too much capitalist influence.
Since early July, the North's state TV had been showing advertisements for beer, hairpins, ginseng and quail meat, sparking speculation that the country might launch broader market reforms.
However, Mr Kim was said to be angered when watching the
advertisements recently, saying "such commercials are what China did when it started its reforms and openness," according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
Yonhap, citing sources it said are privy to North Korean affairs, said that Kim subsequently fired Cha Sung Su, head of a government committee in charge of state-run television.
China is still North Korea's biggest source of economic aid and diplomatic support, but bilateral relations have drifted apart in recent decades as Beijing embraced free-market reforms while Pyongyang remained a defiantly closed, totalitarian state.
North Korean defectors have said there are limits to how far the North would go with its recent economic changes, saying that Mr Kim fears Chinese-style economic reform and openness coming to his country.
The report said Mr Cha's committee began airing the adverts after Kim instructed it to make TV programmes in a "more interesting, diverse" manner.
North Korea has for a long time tightly controlled its economy and is wary of capitalistic influence. TV programmes in the country usually consist of news, factory description and documentaries on Mr Kim.
