North Korea: Dozens of relatives of the executed uncle of Kim Jung-un sent to prison camps.

[pampango]

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un walks past his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, at a military parade in February last year

More than a hundred relations of Jang Song-thaek, who was executed by firing squad on charges of plotting to overthrow the North Korean state, have reportedly been arrested and sent to prison camps.

Security officials are said to have descended on a suburb of Pyongyang, the capital, to round up family members of Jang, who was uncle by marriage to Kim Jong-un, the reclusive state's leader.

Although it is common in North Korea for family members of anyone found guilty of a crime also to be punished, the scale of the latest arrests underlines the lengths to which the country's new "Dear Leader" is going to eradicate his former mentor from the nation's history.

"At around 10pm on the night of [December] 13, the day after Jang was executed, armed men from the Ministry of State Security arrived in the Pyongchon area of Pyongyang, where a lot of his relations lived," a source in the North Korean capital told the Daily NK news website, which is run by defectors based in South Korea. "They took away a few hundred people. It was not just his close relations, but distant members of his family too, like relations of his father. In these circumstances, even his relations outside Pyongyang are not safe."

http://www.smh.com.au/world/kim-jongun-rounds-up-the-relations-20131222-hv6p0.html

[geomon666]

1. Have they come out with a real reason why they shot this prick?

Or is it the same bullshit about dreaming different dreams and not clapping enthusiastically enough?

[LeftyMom]

8. It's North Korea. It's surprising they even admitted it happened.

NK is saying he was enriching himself and a womanizer (their media really beat that into the ground) and that he was a pawn of a foreign power.

That last one seems to be the frontrunner for the real reason, he was really tight with China. Who knows what exactly they were planning (or were assumed to have planned) with him? But the NK experts I've heard all seem to think it's something to do with his China ties.

That said, it's totally not unusual historically for young rulers to bump off the power brokers from the previous regime. It opens up roles for their friends, and keeps Dad's old buddies from giving them noogies and talking down to them at meetings. It's entirely possible that the only reason at all was that the guy was older and powerful and respected.

[davidpdx]

20. I agree it is

It's a very bold move to actually admit it. Usually we've had to rely on intelligence (mostly South Korean) to confirm things.

[Marrah_G]

11. People there can be executed for no reason at all

The stories from people who have escaped from there are horrifying.

[TwilightGardener]

2. At some point, the higher-IQ members of that country are going to start

looking at each other and thinking, "Everyone's disappearing--this is starting to smell like bullshit."

[Kaleva]

3. Many very intelligent people kissed Stalin's ass till the day he died.

And there were quite a few who voiced their loyalty to him on the day of their own execution.

[TeamPooka]

5. Hitler too.

[TwilightGardener]

7. There's got to be a tipping point, though, and probably Kim Jong Un is afraid of that--

even the brainwashed have got to be confused or alarmed at the uncle's sudden downfall and public execution. They could have "disappeared" him, but chose to make an example of him instead. Kim might really be in the process of losing control of things.

[Kaleva]

9. You could well be right.

Ancient Rome provides many examples of where an Emperor was overthrown by people who thought that if they didn't strike, they'd be executed themselves at some point.

[Marrah_G]

12. We'd like to think that

But frankly, these people have been so indoctrinated they block out independent thought and if if they think it, they won't trust anyone else enough to say it. Would you risk the lives of three generations of your family in hopes that the person you spoke to wouldn't turn you in?

[TwilightGardener]

18. Yup, nation full of basket cases. It's not going to end well.

[Marrah_G]

22. It really is the worlds largest cult

They rule through a bizarre mix of adoration of deified leaders, complete isolation and fear. I feel so badly for the people there and frankly, unless the world were to intervene with military force, nothing there will change.

[lordsummerisle]

4. North Korea

is like a bad science fiction story that just won't end...

[TeamPooka]

6. Now that's a purge. nt

[Kaleva]

10. He's even had an ex-girlfriend executed not long ago.

[stevenleser]

13. Didn't we have a DUer that was a North Korea fan? Was that person Tombstoned? nt

[Kaleva]

14. BBI?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002558418

[Nye Bevan]

15. Hannah Bell.

Tombstoned for going nuts defending North Korea. Of all the ways to be booted off DU, probably one of the most unusual.

Take this thread for example:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1193414

[stevenleser]

17. That is of whom I was thinking. Thank you! Yes! That person went really nuts!

Defending of all places North Korea! Wtf!

[stevenleser]

21. That person came back as HiPointDem who was also T/S'd nt

[geomon666]

16. Wow

Some people on here will defend anything.

[Mojo Electro]

19. North Korea "dissapears" people

It's all very Stalinesque. The uncle's image was even photoshopped out of official pictures in the state media. Stalin used to do that too, retouching pictures to remove people that had been purged. They wipe you out and try to wipe out any trace that you ever existed.

It's such a terrifying and dreadful situation. Anytime someone falls out of favor, they and anyone too close to them are as good as dead. I had read somewhere that Jang Song-thaek was popular and had quite a bit of support, a holdover from Kim's father's time in power. Not being the leader, but gaining a bit of support and popularity, that in and of itself is a death sentence in a Stalinist country. Rulers like Kim do not tolerate that.