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| China-Japan-Koreas | ||||||
| More turmoil expected after Jang execution | ||||||
| 2013-12-16 | ||||||
The 67-year-old Jang, who married into the ruling family and has been a fixture in the country's hierarchy for decades, had installed his own blood relatives in the government and military. Jang's cronies ran the army-owned companies that control the lucrative trade at the Chinese border. His brother-in-law, Jon Yong Jin, was ambassador to Cuba, after serving previously in Iceland and Sweden. Jon is believed to have been recalled, as has one of Jang's nephews, Jang Yong Chol, the ambassador to Malaysia until a few weeks ago.
The family feud has been played out with unusual theatrical flair. North Korean state television interrupted regular broadcasting Monday to show images of Jang Song Taek being yanked out of his seat at a special session of the ruling Workers' Party, an unprecedented public humiliation of a man who until recently was considered the nation's second-in-command. Earlier in the day, the Korean Central News Agency had cited "anti-state and counterrevolutionary factional action" as the reason for Jang's fall. The agency also blasted him as leading a dissolute and corrupt life influenced by capitalism, womanizing, gambling and drug use.
"The recent affairs seem to show that the Kim Jong Un regime has not stabilized yet. It's not easy for young Kim to establish a sole leadership in just two years," said Moon Hong-sik, a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy in Seoul. Kang Chol Hwan, a prominent North Korean defector, suggested that the purge was a risky move that could make Kim Jong Un vulnerable to a coup. "If Kim wields his ax too indiscriminately to consolidate his grip on power, he could be paving the way for his own demise," he wrote in a column published Monday in Chosun Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper. According to Kang, Jang commanded about 200,000 North Korean troops who reported to the Workers' Party Administration Department, which he headed. His connections extended into the army-controlled trading companies that procure most of North Korea's hard currency by trading across the border with China and elsewhere. Jang's chief rival, Choe Ryong Hae, who has now become North Korea's second-in-command, "has purged many seasoned generals the troops respect, turning the military into a powder keg," Kang wrote.
Alexandre Mansourov of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies believes that Kim has proved himself as ruthless as his father. "By eliminating Jang, Kim Jong Un has proven that he reigns supreme and is a formidable presence to be discounted only at one's own peril. He knows his way around the dog-eat-dog world of North Korea," Mansourov wrote Monday for the institute's online publication 38 North. "Clearly, Kim Jong Un outwitted Jang, who must have known very well what could happen to the mentor of supreme leader when his apprentice outgrows him and therefore schemed tirelessly to secure his long-term position, but to no avail.'' Debonair and well-traveled, at least by the standards of the reclusive communist government, Jang was perceived for years as the main conduit to the Chinese leadership and an advocate for Chinese-style reform and economic opening. North Korea's ambassador to China, Ji Jae Ryong, is considered another Jang protege. Jang was also believed to be in favor of protecting Kim Jong Nam, the current leader's older brother, who was shunted aside in the succession and is now thought to be living in Macao under Chinese protection. Jang's "perceived close ties with China may have done a disservice to his standing in the eye of Kim, exposed him to criticism of being too subservient to China, and made him vulnerable to any anti-China backlash in Pyongyang," wrote Mansourov. In the public accusations against Jang, KCNA accused him of corruption in the border trade and of "throwing the state financial management system into confusion and committing such acts of treachery as selling off precious resources of the country at cheap prices." The first clues of the turmoil within North Korea came last week when South Korean intelligence reported the public execution in November of two of Jang's confidants, Ri Yong Ha and Jang Soo Kil.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 See also BIGNEWSNETWORK > [National Post] NORTH KOREA'S SCRAMBLE TO JUSTIFY EXECUTION OF KIM JONG-UN'S [beloved?]UNCLE [is] ALSO A SHOCKING ADMISSION THAT THE KIM FAMILY WASN'T IN TOTAL CONTROL. and * JAPAN TIMES > [Yonhap] NORTH KOREAN LEAFLETS THREATEN ASSAULT ON [SoKor-held front-line island] BAEONGNYEONG ISLAND. versus * BIGNEWSNETWORK > [Business Week] IS NORTH KOREA UNWINDING TIES WID CHINA? * RELATED BHARAT RAKSHAK > [TIME.com = SCMP] KIM JONG-UN'S PURGE OF HIS UNCLE MAY TEST CHINA TIES. * SAME, TOPIX > CHINA'S NEW AIR ZONE COULD DEEPEN ISOLATION OF NORTH KOREA. In NOKOR's view, good or bad, war or peace, benign or despotic, etc. the outcomes for NOKOR ends up broadly or subjectively the same, i.e. IN CHINESE STATE DOMINATION IFF NOT DE FACTO CHINESE STATE TAKEOVER OF NORTH KOREA. As per SecState Jaawhn Kerry's remarks on the unacceptability of NOKOR possessing Nuclear Weapons, NORTH KOREA = BAMMERIKA'S NEW BFF IN SYRIA RISING IRAN = RANT-N-RAVE IN RIGHTEOUS, PCOOORRECT-DENIABLE INDIGNATION, ETC. AGZ THE DPRK'S NUCPROGS WHILE COVERTLY BREAKING ANOTHER US "RED LINE" TO ENSURE NOKOR GETS ITS NUKES. Again, as per INTER-KOREAN COOP + REUNIFICATION, + the post-911/GWOT US agendum of having Regional allies be responsible for many Cold War-era security roles [US-led GMD-TMD], it is in the US-Allies interests for NOKOR to SSSSHHHHHH .... CCCCCCC HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS AGZ CHINA. BUT D *** NG IT, YOUSE DIDN'T HEAR IT FROM THEM - DON'T YOUSE FERGIT WHAT THEY NEVER EVAR! TOLD YOUSE! [MISSION IMPOSSIBLE = "GOOD MORNING MR. PHELPS ... ... THIS TAPE WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN 15 SECONDS"]. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2013-12-16 20:22 |