N. Korea: Is Kim Jong-un a Puppet of Hardline Brass?

Speculation is growing that hardline North Korean generals were behind the execution of leader Kim Jong-un's uncle Jang Song-taek and that Kim was merely their pawn.

That would be worrying for South Korea, which would face an increased threat of military provocations.

Park Hyung-joong at the Korea Institute for National Unification said Jang's purge was part of a power struggle where factions in the military that Jang had stripped of their lucrative businesses tried to regain them.

Forces opposed to Jang, who was seen as a moderate, used a purported challenge to Kim's sole authority as an excuse to remove the eminence grise and regain control of their money-making operations.

If that is true, then the only faction strong enough to pull off such a plot is the powerful military.

Thomas Schafer, the German ambassador to North Korea, said recently that Kim was forced by the military to purge Jang and that he had "no choice."

Some experts believe that Kim is just a puppet being controlled by unseen forces. One former South Korean minister who had been in charge of diplomacy and national security affairs, told the Chosun Ilbo in a telephone interview, "Looking at Jang Song-taek's sentence and the events surrounding it, I wonder if Kim Jong-un is being pushed around by an unseen figure."

The crimes Jang was found guilty of, such as ruining the North Korean economy and living conditions of its people and attempting a coup d'état, would be seen as direct insults to the sanctity of the leader and considered taboo in North Korea, the official said.

Why would Kim risk weakening his support base by getting rid of his powerful uncle and guardian? One researcher at a state-run think tanks here said, "If there is a group of powerful figures who are controlling Kim Jong-un, it makes sense to use him because he has the legitimacy of his ancestry" as a direct descendant of nation founder Kim Il-sung.

37 posted on 12/20/2013 11:35:42 AM by TigerLikesRooster: “More info came out on clash between Jang’s people and NK military. 150 KPA soldiers went to take over a lucrative fishery enterprise with the approval of Kim Jong-eun. Kim told Jang to give it to military so that they can feed malnourished soldiers. Jang ignored it, and his people naturally did not get the message from his boss. When the soldiers turned up, Jang’s boys refused to turn it over. Things got heated up. 150 (malnourished) soldiers clashed with 40 (probably better-fed) Jang’s securities, in which soldiers got their ass-kicked. Two of them were dead.”

Thank you.

If this is correct — and it sounds like it either is true or was created by the military to make Jang look bad, which means it might as well be true — it shows just how bad things are in the North.

This is in a country with a military-first approach. If the soldiers are so malnourished that they can't fight off a much smaller force barely a quarter of their size, think how bad the civilian population is.

Remember that it's winter. Winter and snow in America means a nice warm fire. Winter and snow in North Korea means when your food runs out you've got nothing to forage in the fields and no hope of new food for months.

Dysfunctional doesn't even begin to describe a place like this.

The only thing that kept assassin's bullets at bay for both Granda Kim Il Song and Papa Kim Jong il, was long years of bribing off all top KPA and KWP officials, particularly and including secret police and military officials. Even then, it did not stop multiple assassination attempts on for example the Chia Pet's own life.

He plied them with cognac and yachts and speedboats and porno movies and brand goods and high class Euro chocolates and gold watches, etc. They in turn kept their Tokarev's holstered, safety's on.

That was the brilliance in the initial GWB strategy of cutting off to the DPRK luxury goods; somebody, a Pyongyang-ologist somewhere, did their home work and found out internally what holds the NK factions together, gifts and bribery and probably women (and blackmail). Take away the money flow and luxuries to DPRK from external sources and yes, Fat Boy Kim Jong Un could indeed be on troubled ground if he cannot continue to bribe off DPRK officials around him with luxury goods and playthings for their kids and grand kids. I hope this gets "interesting." Too bad we have a jerk in the US White House. This would be a good time to have an allied strategy to topple the House of Kim, seize the nukes and push forward toward peaceful reunification--but I would not expect that under Obama's watch unfortunately. Those associates of Jang's in safehouses and what not in China, if they can safely get to S.E. Asia and then Seoul, might indeed bring in a treasure trove of useful intelligence, one hopes at least.

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