'Empire of horror' North Korea faces worldwide condemnation for execution China, the North's sole major ally and economic lifeline, said the execution was an internal matter but emphasised the need for stability. "As a neighbour we hope to see national stability, economic development and people living in happiness in the DPRK," a foreign ministry spokesman said. But a leading Chinese expert on Korea said Beijing was worried. "China will be concerned about any uncertainty brought by the personnel reshuffles," said Li Kaisheng, a fellow at Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. Stability in North Korea will be China's top priority now. South Korea echoed Britain's comments, with its unification ministry saying: "The government has deep concerns about a recent series of developments in North Korea and is watching the situation closely." Carl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister, condemned the "Stalinist" execution. "I think that what we see now publicly is only the surface of an empire of horror," he said. Jang, a former general who was married to the sister of Mr Kim's father, was dramatically escorted from a party meeting by soldiers on Sunday, and accused by state media of corruption and leading a decadent life of drug use and sexual incontinence. In the days since, he had been airbrushed from official photographs and videos and there have been reports that two of his close aides had been executed. In language reminiscent of the most sweeping communist purges, the regime said Jang worked "to overthrow the state by all sorts of intrigues and despicable methods with a wild ambition to grab the supreme power of our party and state." It relayed his apparent confession: "I was going to stage the coup by using army officers who had close ties with me or by mobilising armed forces under the control of my confidants," KCNA, the state news agency, quoted him as saying. I attempted to trigger off discontent among service personnel and people when the present regime does not take any measure despite the fact that the economy of the country and people's living are driven into catastrophe. A commentary condemned Jang in vivid terms: "Despicable human scum Jang, who was worse than a dog, perpetrated thrice-cursed acts of treachery in betrayal of such profound trust and warmest paternal love shown by the party and the leader for him." The statement also invoked Mr Kim's immediate predecessors - his father and grandfather: "From long ago, Jang had a dirty political ambition. He dared not raise his head when Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il were alive. He began revealing his true colours, thinking that it was just the time for him to realise his wild ambition in the period of historic turn when the generation of the revolution was replaced. Diplomats have warned of the growing danger that North Korea could collapse as its people and even parts of its army starve, amid another round of economic collapse. The accession of the Swiss-educated Mr Kim had raised speculation that he would start to open up the economy. But by purging Jang and other technocrats who had sought cautious Chinese-style reforms, Mr Kim appears to have dashed those hopes in his attempts to establish unquestioned control. Lord Alton of Liverpool, the chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on North Korea, said: "From the people I spoke to who knew him [Jang], he represented for many the real hope for reform in North Korea." Mr Kim has awarded himself the title Dear Leader held by his father and sought to remove officers of the Korean People's Army from key posts in favour of placemen from the ruling party. "If he has to go as high as purging and then executing Jang, it tells you that everything's not normal," said Victor Cha, a former senior White House adviser on Asia. John Swenson-Wright, a fellow at Chatham House policy institute said the lengthy description of Jang's supposed wrongdoing - which spanned private profiteering on coal and other natural resources as well as gambling away €4.6 million (£3.9 million) last year - amounted to a risky set of revelations for the leadership of a starving country.