The aunt of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un passed away after suffering a fatal stroke while arguing with him on phone about her husband's execution, a defector said.
Kim Kyung Hee was the sister of Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader who died three years ago and left his son in charge of the state.
Her husband, Jang Song Thaek, often referred to as the second most powerful figure in North Korea, was executed by Jong Un in December on charges that he tried to usurp the government, reported the CNN.
The defector, Kang Myung-do, son-in-law to North Korea's ex-Prime Minister, Kang Sun San, said that Jang's wife had suffered her third stroke just days after the execution. When she suffered the fatal stroke, she was hospitalized but died later on.
Myung-do also conceded that the death was not announced because she died just a few days after her husband's death and the government did not want people to link her death to her husband's.
The Korean media had claimed that she committed suicide just days after her husband's execution.