Posted on 12/26/2011 8:52:43 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Purges 'Ensure Kim Jong-un's Succession'
A series of executions and unexplained deaths since North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's son Jong-un was anointed heir to the throne in January 2009 were apparently meant to remove obstacles to the transition. Kim senior instituted several bloody purges to ensure his iron grip on power since he officially took over from his own father in 1994.
The most prominent example is perhaps the death of Ri Je-gang, a former senior deputy director of the Organization and Guidance Department and a close aide to Kim Jong-il who oversaw key military appointments for more than two decades. Ri was a bitter rival of Jang Song-taek, Kim Jong-il's brother-in-law and guardian to Jong-un, and was killed in a mysterious car crash in late May 2010, just a few days before Jang was promoted to vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, the North's highest leadership organ.
Ri Yong-chol, the second-in-command at the Organization and Guidance Department, also died of a heart attack in April of last year. "Ri Je-gang was the central figure of the old guard," a knowledgeable source in China said. "He seems to have been eliminated to boost the power of Kim Jong-un's supporters."
Economic officials have also purged. Pak Nam-gi, director of the Planning and Finance Department in the Workers Party, and Moon Il-bong, head of finance, were executed by firing squad in April and June last year. Hong Sok-hyong, who succeeded Pak, was relieved of all of his duties in June and his whereabouts are unknown. Ex-minister of railways Kim Yong-sam was executed in June of last year after being linked to a massive explosion in Ryongchon in 2004 that is believed to have been a botched attack on Kim Jong-il's armored train.
Key intelligence and public security officials have also disappeared while the succession was being assured. Ryu Kyong, the deputy director of the State Security Department, was shot early this year as he was considered a rival to Jang. Ju Sang-song, the minister of People's Security, was fired in March of this year. "Those considered as obstacles to Kim Jong-un are being removed," a source said. "Another bloody purge is likely after the period of mourning for Kim Jong-il ends."
The crosshairs are expected to be aimed at elderly military and party officials who could consider Kim Jong-un a lightweight. O Kuk-ryol (80), who was the central military figure during the Kim Jong-il regime is on top of the bucket list, according to experts. O was not appointed to any position within the Politburo or Central Military Commission during an extraordinary party congress in September last year.
The North's espionage operations against South Korea, which O had headed over the past 20 years, are now headed by Kim Yong-chol, who has emerged as a key aide to Kim Jong-un. Secretaries to Kim Jong-il and other elderly party officials also represent obstacles to Kim Jong-un. Kim Jong-il in turn got rid of his own father's secretaries when he took over.
There are views that Kim Jong-un's "reign of terror" has already begun. According to a government source, there were 60 public executions in North Korea last year, a three-fold increase from 2009. The North Korean government set up special riot police in each part of the country.
A year after Kim Jong-il was appointed North Korea's top military commander, in October 1992, he purged 20 military officers who were educated in the Soviet Union and had gained control of the North's troops. In April 1995, just after his father's death, he executed hundreds of soldiers when suspicious developments in the Sixth Army Corps stationed in North Hamgyong Province were detected. In 1997, when millions of North Koreans were starving to death, Kim Jong-il executed his then agriculture secretary So Kwan-hui in Pyongyang after accusing him of being a U.S. spy.
Totally expected it...
P!
I’m sure Jimmy Carter would approve of the mini pogroms presently going on. He’s such an understanding ‘Christian’. NOT!!
The road goes on for ever and the Party never ends . .
There’s something almost nostalgic about this... like the smell of napalm in the morning.
Well, what would a succession in a Communist country be without a few executions? Brings back the good old days...
The Kim Dynasty may push it's luck one notch too far.
I don't believe they'll be able to hang on and will be replaced by a military commission that will, eventually, oversee real peace talks and normalization with the South.
I wouldn't be surprised if 50,000 die in front of firing squads in the interim.
This regime will break, soon. You can smell it.
Yeah, in the good old days, Stalin would have everyone else denounce the victim, who was then arrested, tortured and executed. These guys are less about process and more about the ends.
Watching the videos of the sobbing crowds made me think we’ve defeated fanatical populations before - but it took nuclear weapons.
They’d have show trials, too. And goose-stepping parades afterward. These new guys just know nothing about running a proper police state. Ah, the pageantry...
Golden handshake.
Early retirement.
RIF.
Change of direction.
Restructuring.
Joe Stalin style.
The US should be encouraging high level defections ACROSS THE BOARD in DPRK embassies around the world. The situation is RIPE for it. They should be offering cash incentives, all the while talking down Kim Jong Un in a massive PR campaign to undermine him. And thus embarrass the new regime greatly. This could be a spark to start much larger things domestically amonghts patriots up there just waiting for the signal. But I would not expect this to help the North Korean people under Obama, he will simply fortify the horrific status quo of Police State up there, and maybe send Jimmy Carter with a mourning floral display. Obama would leave these people to twist in the wind like Kennedy over Cuba Libre forces at Bay of Pigs. Oh, Obama out of office cannot happen too soon for me!
How about this one thing about Soviets they know how throw good funeral and good music LOL!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4gsgEI9Nu8&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PLBD5FAF7E991E2476
How about this one thing about Soviets they know how throw good funeral and good music LOL!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4gsgEI9Nu8&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PLBD5FAF7E991E2476
Hey AIT I watching CNN international they just broke into coverage of Chia Pet funeral OF COURSE
Yes, I am watching both MBN and YTN live from South Korea, with the female announcer, Pyongyang Patty, (Comrade Ri) giving the voice over narration, about ready to faint with grief (feigned or otherwise). My it sure is cloudy and snowy up there in Pyongyang. I am so glad that it was crappy weather all day, and I hope to heaven the sun does NOT break through at all. That will deny them one more myth about their fallen leader. Fat Kim Junior was keeping a pretty good pace there alongside the hearse. Lets hope something funny or stupid or unplanned happens on live DPRK TV, but they probably have it on a five minute delay. Now a male announcer is getting emotional. And they also now have a female soldier, with lots of makeup on, in the front line standing out in the snow, and crying on and on about KJI. Good acting! 12:30 a.m. East Coast, 9:30 p.m. Pacific Time (Tuesday). I think South Korea does not want to give these people too much air time, so just shows the scenery when they drone on and talk over it with their in studio analysts. Very fascinating.
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