Kim Jong Un executed his uncle today.
One notable problem with dictatorships is that they don’t typically transfer power easily. This could be a statement, or it could be a symptom of a serious problem.
Kim Jong Un either just made it clear that he will brook no nonsense, or he just freaked out a coalition that probably ought not to be freaked out. When people don’t feel secure in their position, they make bad choices.
(image credit: CNN)
Patrick
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The new broom sweeps clean.
Granted, Kim Jong Un is not exactly “new” to his position any more, but it may have taken him a little bit of time to form his own support group that he felt confident enough to do this.
That the exectuee was his uncle seems either beside the point, or an inevitable function of military dictatorship being the family business.Report
Special Military Tribunal = No. Korean Family Planning ClinicReport
“Kim Jong Un either just made it clear that he will brook no nonsense, or he just freaked out a coalition that probably ought not to be freaked out. When people don’t feel secure in their position, they make bad choices.”
And to think I’ve read free-marketers calling for more job insecurity and volitity in the United States
#easyjoke #couldn’tresistReport
Yeah, but which is it?Report
this article points out that while the Kim purge is of course more common than the kimchi in North Korea, having Uncle Jang go out with such a figurative bang – in addition to the literal one – is unprecedented in the history of the DPRK.Report
Seeing a lot of reports of how Kim Kyong Hui helped push to have Jang Song Thaek purged. That suggests this is an effort by the Kim family to consolidate their power by any means necessary as much as a generational thing, as compared to the purge of Ri Yong Ho. Also, it makes you wonder how much truth there is to the allegations of infidelity. If his wife was willing to throw him under the bus, maybe he was a cheating scumbag in addition to his other manifest flaws.Report
The stuff I read yesterday suggests that there may have been done real issues related to Jang Song Thaek’s relationship to China and the fact that one of his employees or advisors (financial advisor?) defected to S. Korea with government documents recently. This suggests there really were some threats, though perhaps greatly exaggerated, that may have caused whatever generational strife ultimately led to this point.Report
Not quite time to panic yet, but a lot of the stuff coming out of East Asia is starting to scare the bejeezus out of me.Report