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N. Korea: Kim Jong-il fears coup, strips military of power
Asia News ^ | 03/12/08

Posted on 03/15/2008 3:49:14 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster

03/12/2008 12:51

Kim Jong-il fears coup, strips military of power

A North Korean government source says a major shift is underway in North Korea’s military-first policy. Decisions are overturned and funds for the armed forces are cut by 30 per cent to prevent the generals from taking over. Secret police is strengthened.

Seoul (AsiaNews) – North Korea’s decades-old “military-first” policy is changing as the power of the Communist regime’s army is reduced in favour of the Ministry of People’s Security. Some experts suggest the shift is related to the ongoing battle over the succession to the ‘dear leader’ who fears a generals’ coup.

The report comes from a source inside the government in Pyongyang, anonymous for security reason, who spoke to the South Korean daily Dong-a Ilbo.

The source said yesterday that “Kim Jong Il has ordered the military to transfer its foreign operations to his cabinet and is implementing a radical reform of military authorities.”

Kim ordered a cut to the armed forces by 30 per cent, including the number of soldiers.

The changes should be announced before the end of March, but the source noted that officers in the chain of command including the Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces, the National Security Council, the Ministry of State Inspection and the General Staff Department began retiring in January.

The Ministry of People’s Security is instead being strengthened. Funds taken from the military are said to have already been given to the “secret police” which will now be able to probe the military, hitherto protected from outside interference.

According to the source the shift shows how much Kim Jong-il is afraid of the power vacuum that his death might cause, and that he is convinced that his dynasty has the right to rule over the country. For this reason he does not want the military to come forward in a power struggle.


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: coup; kimjongil; korea; military; nkorea; northkorea
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1 posted on 03/15/2008 3:49:17 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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To: TigerLikesRooster; AmericanInTokyo; Steel Wolf; nuconvert; MizSterious; nw_arizona_granny; ...

Ping!


2 posted on 03/15/2008 3:49:51 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster (kim jong-il, chia head, ppogri, In Grim Reaper we trust)
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To: Alas Babylon!; American_Centurion; An.American.Expatriate; ASA.Ranger; ASA Vet; Atigun; Ax; ...
MI ping

DPRK board
3 posted on 03/15/2008 4:01:17 AM PDT by BIGLOOK (Keelhaul politicians. The Ship of State needs a good scrubbing!)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
I guess the best way to deal with a large number of armed men who you find threatening is to cut off their funding.

Yeah, that'll work.

4 posted on 03/15/2008 4:07:51 AM PDT by muir_redwoods (Free Sirhan Sirhan, after all, the bastard who killed Mary Jo Kopechne is walking around free)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
psssst Kim....look!

Kim..look over there..

that plant moved...

Kim...pssst Kim...

ya better watch that gold fish, he has big eyes...

Kim....psssst Kim

damn Kim....that mop is big, get rid of it...

Kim...psssst Kim...remember that Train wreck and explosion?
ya better tear up all railroad tracks...

Kim....pssst Kim
that toilet tissue looks new,...better have a serf use it first

5 posted on 03/15/2008 4:09:53 AM PDT by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
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To: TigerLikesRooster

More communist secret police, that must make the citizens fear what will happen in the future.

Thanks for the ping.


6 posted on 03/15/2008 4:24:29 AM PDT by nw_arizona_granny (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1886546/posts?page=4972#4972 45 Item Communist Manifesto)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

The voices are getting louder now...


7 posted on 03/15/2008 4:26:39 AM PDT by truemiester ((If the U.S. should fail, a veil of darkness will come over the Earth for a thousand years))
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Now THIS is interesting. Didn’t some similar power maneuvers happen shortly before Jong Il’s death?


8 posted on 03/15/2008 4:41:09 AM PDT by cake_crumb (I will criticize Obama as much and as often as I want.)
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To: truemiester
"The voices are getting louder now..."

Must be getting hard for him to hear anything over them.

9 posted on 03/15/2008 4:43:08 AM PDT by cake_crumb (I will criticize Obama as much and as often as I want.)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
The walls have eyes too.
10 posted on 03/15/2008 4:57:55 AM PDT by Eye of Unk (The world WILL be cleaner, safer and more productive without Islam.)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Lil Kim! Watch out for the “daily Dong-a Ilbo.”


11 posted on 03/15/2008 5:15:21 AM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ("Don't touch that thing")
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To: TigerLikesRooster
Kim Jong Il has ordered the military to transfer its foreign operations

"Foreign operations?" Interesting term, because hardly anybody gets out of that hellhole. Is "foreign operations" the group which plots invasions of S. Korea, or is it the outfit which peddles nukes to the Muzzie terror states?

This affair is reminiscent of Stalin's purge of his military.

12 posted on 03/15/2008 5:18:19 AM PDT by hellbender
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To: hellbender

Maybe he plans on sending his secret police through the tunnels next time around.


13 posted on 03/15/2008 5:30:27 AM PDT by cake_crumb (I will criticize Obama as much and as often as I want.)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

—A North Korean government source says a major shift is underway in North Korea’s military-first policy. Decisions are overturned and funds for the armed forces are cut by 30 per cent to prevent the generals from taking over. Secret police is strengthened.—

This happened in Romania many years ago. The dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu did not trust the regular Army, so he kept its funding on a shoestring and lavished money on his loyal Securitate (uniformed secret police—used to put down “internal” threats) which were loyal to him. This was a foreshadowing of decay in Romania; are we seeing the same thing in the PDRK?


14 posted on 03/15/2008 6:00:31 AM PDT by paleorite ("Oy vey, Skippa-San" The immortal words of Fuji, formerly America's favorite POW.)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
Perfect time for an INVASION.. The Army is in chaos..
OR a civil War no doubt much of the secret police despise the dear leader also.. Actually who wouldnt..
15 posted on 03/15/2008 6:17:03 AM PDT by hosepipe (CAUTION: This propaganda is laced with hyperbole....)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Sounds like a bad idea to get rid of 30% of your military when your country sucks to begin with....


16 posted on 03/15/2008 6:47:37 AM PDT by thebaron512
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To: TigerLikesRooster
the power of the Communist regime’s army is reduced in favour of the Ministry of People’s Kim Jong Il's Security.
17 posted on 03/15/2008 7:00:10 AM PDT by Constitutionalist Conservative (Global Warming Heretic -- http://agw-heretic.blogspot.com)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
According to the source the shift shows how much Kim Jong-il is afraid of the power vacuum that his death might cause,

OK, I guess pretty much everybody figures Kim is worried about his own impending death, not the path of succession.

Is there any known or suspected reason he might actually fear a NATURAL impending death and thus actually care about succession?

18 posted on 03/15/2008 7:18:22 AM PDT by Sal (We The People ARE the government. We elect pols as our servants, not our masters.)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
Hmmm, if a revolution takes out the DPRK and the Koreas reunite, guess the Chinese will have to find another volunteer to proliferate nuclear technology to terrorists.

Pssst! Hey, wanna borrow a knife?

19 posted on 03/15/2008 7:31:58 AM PDT by lentulusgracchus ("Whatever." -- sinkspur)
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To: Sal
Is there any known or suspected reason he might actually fear a NATURAL impending death

I suspect he knows he's not a strong swimmer.


20 posted on 03/15/2008 7:33:58 AM PDT by ASA Vet (Do we want Huma answering the red phone at 3 a.m.?)
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