current affairs Nuclear War (next week?)

[legov]

[snowychap]

North Korean leader's uncle 'executed over corruption'

The once-powerful uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been executed after being purged for corruption, state news agency KCNA reports.

Chang Song-thaek was dramatically removed from a Communist Party session by armed guards earlier this week.

It was the biggest upheaval since Mr Kim succeeded his father two years ago.

KCNA said Mr Chang had admitted at a military trial on Thursday to attempting to overthrow the state, and was executed immediately.

Mr Chang, who had mentored his nephew during the leadership transition from Kim Jong-il to his son Kim Jong-un in 2011, was "worse than a dog", said the agency.

He had admitted abusing his positions of responsibility to form a faction against the state and to harbouring his own political ambitions, it said.

'Ideologically sick'

But in early December, it emerged that he had been removed from his senior military position and that two of his aides had been executed.

Then on Monday, KCNA broadcast footage of him being removed from a party session by uniformed guards.

Secretive 'first family'

"Chang pretended to uphold the party and leader but was engrossed in such factional acts as dreaming different dreams and involving himself in double-dealing behind the scenes," the agency reported at the time

It accused him being "ideologically sick and extremely idle and easy-going", of using drugs while receiving medical treatment overseas, of having "improper relations" with women, of financial mismanagement, and leading "a dissolute and depraved life".

Analysts say his fall from grace could be seen as the latest in a series of carefully calibrated moves to demonstrate Kim Jong-un's authority and an assertion of his independence

The BBC's Lucy Williamson in Seoul says there are various theories surrounding Mr Chang's demise, including suggestions that his work with China had led him to admire some of Beijing's economic reforms.

But it is more likely that he presented a perceived threat to his nephew's authority, says our correspondent.

Mr Chang was purged once before in 2004, and disappeared from public life for a while, but it is clear that this time North Korea's leaders wanted to publically humiliate and execute him to ensure he can never come back, she adds.

As news of the purge emerged earlier this week, South Korean President Park Geun-hye warned the North was "carrying out a reign of terror" to reinforce Mr Kim's position.

She said the volatile relationship between the two countries was likely to become "more unstable" as a result.

[tonyh29]

Seems to be a family affair with his aunt and brother involved in the decision ...

"the regime thought Jang Sung-taek was no longer of any use to it, nor was likely to be again in future,”

I'm guessing if you are dead that does kinda make you useless in the future

[Seat68]

 

Contains swears.

[AshVilla]

As if he executed his own uncle

 

That's one less Christmas present he will be getting

 

Tool

Edited December 13, 2013 by AshVilla

[drat01]

Seems to be a family affair with his aunt and brother involved in the decision ...

"the regime thought Jang Sung-taek was no longer of any use to it, nor was likely to be again in future,”

I'm guessing if you are dead that does kinda make you useless in the future

It's all relative

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

We're more likely to get nuked by a rogue Trident than North Korea.

[tonyh29]

We're more likely to get nuked by a rogue Trident than North Korea.

indeed but it always helps to have an evil bogeyman so that you can convientaly station loads of troops near China

Edited December 13, 2013 by tonyh29

[Xann]

The little bell end had his ex-girlfriend executed a few months back.

 

She was in one of North Korea's top pop acts.

 

The rest of the band were killed too.

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

Oh aye, he needs to get got, no doubt about it.

 

Small problem of WTF to do with millions of newly liberated North Koreans in the event of the regime's demise , especially with China at the door hardly willing to let another US friendly country appear, and Russia too for that matter.

 

NK is essentially what happens when nation states want to play billy big bollocks on the international stage: millions of people suffer at the hands of a bonkers dictators for no good reason.

Edited December 13, 2013 by CarewsEyebrowDesigner

[tonyh29]

The little bell end had his ex-girlfriend executed a few months back.

 

She was in one of North Korea's top pop acts.

 

The rest of the band were killed too.

 

Well there isn't any factual evidence that he did  .. the rumours could well be right ... but equally she could just be sitting at a bar having a beer right now  ...

 

Numerous eye-catching stories in South Korean and Japanese media about the regime and particularly Kim that relied on an anonymous, single source, are often from intelligence services."This stuff gets planted regularly in media outlets and then quickly goes viral," he said. "There's a global appetite for any North Korea story and the more salacious the better. Some of it is probably true – but a great deal of it is probably not

 

  "One of our contacts in North Korea has confirmed that a mass execution took place on 20 August, but we've also heard about several sightings since then of Hyon Song-wol [Kim Jong-un's ex-girlfriend]."

 

shimaru said his contact had been able to confirm the identities of only two people, believed to be celebrities, adding that neither was Hyon.

 

so who knows ......

 

 

 

but back to Jang Sung-taek  ... interestingly that on the day he was removed China and DPRK signed 2 deals ,1 for a hight speed railway between Beijing and Pyongynag and the other for the construciton of an 8 lane motorway between the 2 countries

 

if true  ... it means North Korea is pushing forward with economic development come what may, and shows that Jang Sung-taek was not the only economic hand in the upper echelons of the Pyongyang elite. Indeed, there are  supporters of the thesis that Jang and his clique had actually become a major roadblock to devlopment palns ....

 

Of course, like any media output from North Korea, the article cannot be taken purely at face value. The Korean version will have been written at the very highest level, probably signed off by Kim Jong-un, and then published by state-run media. The primary goal was to justify the purge itself.

 

TBH i'd always be very weary about accepting anything said about the DPRK at face value  , from either side

[tonyh29]

Oh aye, he needs to get got, no doubt about it.

 

Small problem of WTF to do with millions of newly liberated North Koreans in the event of the regime's demise , especially with China at the door hardly willing to let another US friendly country appear, and Russia too for that matter.

 

NK is essentially what happens when nation states want to play billy big bollocks on the international stage: millions of people suffer at the hands of a bonkers dictators for no good reason.

 

Who says he is bonkers  ? 

 

 Kim Jong-un's postion initially was quite weak and he certianly wouldn't have been able to take power on day 1 and impose his will , indeed he was lucky to survive his first few months and still be alive by all accounts 

 

Tthere is some evidence of a willingness to change , he's a young man and time is on his side  ... Tourists can take mobile phones in with them now , they can use Facebook , Skype , twiter etc using a 3G network supplied by an Egyptian telecoms company ..

 

The natives don't have access to it ,yet  , but they do have mobiles with 3G capability so its certianly possible  ... ( His father was nearly assinated by a remote bomb detonated using a mobile phone and hence why mobiles were forbidden for years )

 

there are Chinese goods becomeing more widely available  , heck I even saw local children wearing Mickey Mouse T-Shirts

 

It's got a long long way to go , and leave Pyongyang and the country is starving , but i think the change is inevitable

 

The people of the North who I met and spoke  ( again you have to accept who we may have been given access to , but not every person we met was a stooge  , unless they staged managed an entire park full of locals having picnics and a kick about  etc ) to appear to want One united Korea (in whose favour I couldn't tell you)  .... I'm not sure the Chinese and the Americans do  .. and I'm not sure the South can afford it either