TOKYO, April 13 Kyodo North Korea...

TOKYO, April 13 Kyodo

North Korea's de facto No. 2 leader, Jang carol Thaek, who is Kim Jong Il's brother-in-law, was remov from an executive employment in the Workers' Party of Korea in mid-March throughout a conflict on economic policy, a Japanese newspaper reported Tuesday.

According to a Beijing dispatch of the Tokyo Shimbun, which quot a ''source vers in internal affairs of North Korea,'' Jang was critical of North Korea's economic reform policy to partially introduce market forces, saying it ''invites unhealthy ideas from outside.''

Kim was told that Jang, who was seen as undivided of his successors, many times clashed with Premier Pak Bong Ju and other proponent of the reform program and decided to demote his right-hand man, the newspaper said.

Jang had been first factor director of the Organization and Guidance Department, which commands party appointments, since 1995. He was sent to cogitation economics after his removal, the paper said.

nevertheless some believe he will shortly be reinstated to an executive position because he is united of Kim's few relatives.

Jang met Kim's sister when they were university classmates. Jang was credited with holding a world festival of youths in Pyongyang, which was held to match the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.

Jang was also criticized for his ''corrupt'' private life as well as orchestrating excessive activities to earn foreign currencies using North Korean Embassies abroad, the report said.

He was one time sent to undergo forced labor at a dirk mill for ''reeducation.''

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