North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un reportedly ordered the execution of an ex-girlfriend last summer over a sex tape she was involved in, though now the formerly presumed-deceased pop singer Hyon Song-Wol was seen on state television delivering a speech at a national art workers rally in Pyongyang on Friday.

Song-wol, who was a lover of Jong-un when they both were teenagers, had incurred the disdain the 31-year-old Supreme Leader’s wife Ri Sol-ju, after the pop star was involved in a sex scandal. Jong-un was initially forced to separate from Song-wol years before, at the command of his late father, Dear Leader Kim Jong-il.

It was reported last August by the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo that Song-wol and eleven other well-known entertainers had been caught making a sex tape, and then executed by firing squad. Though on Friday, Hyon conveyed gratitude for Jong-un’s leadership and pledged to work harder to “stoke up the flame for art and creative work.”

In North Korea, a “sex tape” could be something considered to be G-rated in the Western world. Here is the clip which supposedly put Hyon in hot water:

Here is Hyon Song-wol’s rock video for Excellent Horse Like Lady (A Girl in the Saddle Of A Steed) from 2005, which appears to extol the graces of maintaining equine-like stamina in the workplace:

Hyon’s band, the Unhasu Orchestra, had performed a string of patriotic hits in North Korea, including Footsteps of Soldiers, I Love Pyongyang, She is a Discharged Soldier and We are Troops of the Party. Hyon’s popularity peaked with Excellent Horse-Like Lady.

It’s not clear if other members of the Wangjaesan Light Band and Moranbong Band, who were also said to be executed for violated North Korean pornography laws are still alive, after it was reported that they were killed by machine guns while their families watched. It was also reported that said families were then sent to prison camps for “guilt by association.”

Executions in North Korea are said to be particularly fast and brutal, with prisoners force-fed liquor and gagged, before being killed with no chance for reprieve.

In related news, Jong-un now has his own video game called Glorious Leader!, in which he battles drones, entire armies and the Statue of Liberty, with the help of his flaming unicorn and Dennis Rodman.

Here is the trailer:

Image via YouTube