Official KNCA news agency: 'obliterated' for
drinking during official Kim Jong Il mourning period
drinking during official Kim Jong Il mourning period
Kim Chol, vice minister of the army, was taken into custody earlier this year on the orders of Kim Jong-un, who assumed the leadership after the death of his father in December.
On the orders of Kim Jong-un to leave "no trace of him behind, down to his hair," according to South Korean media, Kim Chol was forced to stand on a spot that had been zeroed in for a mortar round and "obliterated."
The execution of Kim Chol is just one example of a purge of members of the North Korean military or party who threatened the fledgling regime of Kim Jong-un. So far this year, 14 senior officials have fallen victim to the purges, according to intelligence data provided to Yoon Sang-hyun, a member of the South Korean Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee.
Those that have fallen from favour include Ri Yong-ho, the head of the army and Ri Kwang-gon, the governor of the North Korean central bank.
Analysts suggest that Mr Kim, who took over as head of state after the death of his father late last year, is acting to consolidate his own power base and deter any criticism of his youthfulness and inexperience....
South Korean officials called it a new type of 'model execution' intended to ensure the obedience and loyalty of high-ranking officials: 'Kim Jong Un has been using the pretext of corruption or negative attitude to remove those high-ranking officials who are either becoming obstacles to his seizure of power, whose results are poor or who have expressed their dissatisfaction.
But what else to expect from a guy who actually commandeered his wife from a KPA officer... just as soon as she was finished getting rid of his baby.
And reports that a softening in attitude had the Norks shutting-down a major political prison have turned out to be premature as well: infamous Camp 22 was shown this week to be still in operation: although it appears the main interrogation center had been razed to the ground, the rest of the 87-sq-mi camp's crude factories, coal mines, and farmland are clearly a beehive of activity, staffed by slave labor and even producing furniture and fake flowers for hard-currency export... and where entire families can be executed for just one of them daring to make eye contact with a guard-