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Happens in the best of families! The uncle and the great leader must never have “prayed together.”
(Chosun) – North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s uncle Jang Song-taek was executed right after a military tribunal on Thursday, the official KCNA news agency said on Friday.
“The tribunal examined Jang’s crimes. All the crimes committed by the accused were proved in the course of the hearing and were admitted by him,” it said.
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Jang Song-taek (left), the uncle of new North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (center) with four-star insignia on his epaulettes, pays his respects to the body of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.The execution came four days after Jang was arrested and hauled out of a Politburo meeting. “The accused is the worst traitor to the nation of all time who perpetrated anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts in a bid to overthrow the leadership of our party and state and the socialist system.”
In a closed North Korean society, pravda (truth) may take some months or years to come out. For now, speculation as to the reasons behind the purge and execution is open to all NK watchers. Some say uncle Jang was moving to consolidate too much power as he leads some 15 to 20,000 workers. Many top leaders will be awfully nervous coming days/weeks. Others say Jang Somg-taek was too close in relations to China. Perhaps, the great nephew needed to send a signal where the power rests.
Your guess will be as good as anyone’s.
A good analysis – Jang Song Taek’s Public Purge from North Korean Leadership.
It’s palace politics. North Korea is not really a Communist state. It is a hereditary monarchy. The former king’s (oops – “Dear Leader’s”) brother was a claimant to the throne, so Kim Jomg Caligula got rid of him.