SEOUL - North Korea said on Friday the uncle of leader Kim Jong Un, previously considered the second most powerful man in the secretive state, has been executed for treason, the biggest upheaval since the death of Kim's father two years ago.
The North's official KCNA news agency said Jang Song Thaek had been executed after a special military tribunal found him guilty of treason, only days after he was stripped of all posts and expelled from the ruling Workers' Party.
News of the execution followed a swirl of unconfirmed media reports that one or more of Jang's aides had defected to South Korea. The South's spy agency says it has no knowledge of any such defections.
If true, the execution caps a spectacular downfall for a man who had long been a fixture in North Korea's leadership. "The accused Jang brought together undesirable forces and formed a faction as the boss of a modern day factional group for a long time and thus committed such hideous crime as attempting to overthrow the state," KCNA said.
"The special military tribunal of the Ministry of State Security of the DPRK ... ruled that he would be sentenced to death according to it. The decision was immediately executed,"it said, using the North's title of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The official Rodong Sinmun newspaper also on Friday carried a photograph of Jang in handcuffs and being held by uniformed guards as he stood trial. It is not known how the sentence was carried out."
Well well. What do you know? Who would have ever guessed it?
Lessons for me are:
1. just like in the old days of the Emperor when the closest persons to the Emperor who lorded over everyone else except the Emperor may lose his head just like that. With no reason! Swift and merciless! That seems like what had happened in this case!;
2. having said that, it will be intriguing to learn HOW did this 'young leader with absolute power' in a mysterious closed nation managed to oust the 'king maker' uncle in such a short time. In the same period, many even questioned who really runs North Korea! Did some 'loyal' servants and allies of the 'uncle' turned? If so, what were the 'ransom' paid by the young Kim?;
3. such swift and decision execution of a person after a 'show' trial can only happened in an autocratic and dictatorial system. The reason is simple: having witnessed the 'mistake' made by the apartheid South African regime of the time to allow Mr Nelson Mandela to be imprisoned but not killed, the young Kim is determined to 'kill off' the 'enemy' quickly! Of course, how much trust can he put on those who turned against his 'uncle' is for all to guess. Who knows what will happen next! My guess is those who turned against his 'uncle' will get purge too as the 'Emperor' cannot trust anyone but those that he nurtured and 'think or believe he can CONTROL'!
Democracy or autocracy?
The North's official KCNA news agency said Jang Song Thaek had been executed after a special military tribunal found him guilty of treason, only days after he was stripped of all posts and expelled from the ruling Workers' Party.
News of the execution followed a swirl of unconfirmed media reports that one or more of Jang's aides had defected to South Korea. The South's spy agency says it has no knowledge of any such defections.
If true, the execution caps a spectacular downfall for a man who had long been a fixture in North Korea's leadership. "The accused Jang brought together undesirable forces and formed a faction as the boss of a modern day factional group for a long time and thus committed such hideous crime as attempting to overthrow the state," KCNA said.
"The special military tribunal of the Ministry of State Security of the DPRK ... ruled that he would be sentenced to death according to it. The decision was immediately executed,"it said, using the North's title of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The official Rodong Sinmun newspaper also on Friday carried a photograph of Jang in handcuffs and being held by uniformed guards as he stood trial. It is not known how the sentence was carried out."
Well well. What do you know? Who would have ever guessed it?
Lessons for me are:
1. just like in the old days of the Emperor when the closest persons to the Emperor who lorded over everyone else except the Emperor may lose his head just like that. With no reason! Swift and merciless! That seems like what had happened in this case!;
2. having said that, it will be intriguing to learn HOW did this 'young leader with absolute power' in a mysterious closed nation managed to oust the 'king maker' uncle in such a short time. In the same period, many even questioned who really runs North Korea! Did some 'loyal' servants and allies of the 'uncle' turned? If so, what were the 'ransom' paid by the young Kim?;
3. such swift and decision execution of a person after a 'show' trial can only happened in an autocratic and dictatorial system. The reason is simple: having witnessed the 'mistake' made by the apartheid South African regime of the time to allow Mr Nelson Mandela to be imprisoned but not killed, the young Kim is determined to 'kill off' the 'enemy' quickly! Of course, how much trust can he put on those who turned against his 'uncle' is for all to guess. Who knows what will happen next! My guess is those who turned against his 'uncle' will get purge too as the 'Emperor' cannot trust anyone but those that he nurtured and 'think or believe he can CONTROL'!
Democracy or autocracy?
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