North Korea says Jang Song Thaek, uncle of leader Kim Jong Un, executed

Jang song-thaek, Chief of the Central Administrative Department of the Workers' Party of Korea, exits a car as he arrives at the Ziguangge building of Zhongnanhai, the central government compound, in Beijing, August 17, 2012. REUTERS/China DailyReuters – by Jack Kim

(Reuters) – North Korea said on Friday Jang Song Thaek, the uncle of leader Kim Jong Un and previously considered the second most powerful man in the secretive state, has been executed after a special military tribunal found him guilty of treason.

“The accused Jang brought together undesirable forces and formed a faction as the boss of a modern day factional group for a long time and thus committed such hideous crime as attempting to overthrow the state,” the North’s official KCNA news agency said.  

The official Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Friday carried a photograph of Jang in handcuffs and being held by uniformed guards as he stood trial.

Earlier this week North Korea stripped Jang of all posts and expelled him from the ruling Workers’ Party, accusing him of criminal acts including mismanagement of the state financial system, womanizing and alcohol abuse.

“From long ago, Jang had a dirty political ambition. He dared not raise his head when Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il were alive,” KCNA said, referring to leader Kim’s grandfather and father, who were previous rulers of the dynastic state.

“He began revealing his true colors, thinking that it was just the time for him to realize his wild ambition in the period of historic turn when the generation of the revolution was replaced.”

The execution caps a spectacular downfall of the husband of leader Kim’s aunt. Jang had previously suffered purges but fought his way back to the power circle to hold influential positions in the ruling party and the military.

(Reporting by Jack Kim; editing by Andrew Roche and Jim loney)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/12/us-korea-north-idUSBRE9BB19520131212

6 thoughts on “North Korea says Jang Song Thaek, uncle of leader Kim Jong Un, executed

  1. Wow! So they are executing their own family members now. Talk about a F**ked up family.

    It reminds me of the comment made by Smilardog earlier about hearing that Barry allegedly killed his own grandmother. If that’s true, then screw China. I think we are competing with North Korea in order to see who can commit the worse family atrocity while being a dictator in office.

  2. Rodman is going to be next. He will probably be charged with trying to seduce a head of state. Or maybe trying to make Kim Jong Un wear some of those pink feathers, and get a tongue piercing.

    1. Nah! If Rodman gets executed in North Korea, it will be because he is wearing too many live colors.

      Seriously. When have you ever seen North Koreans wear anything other than dark colors? With the exception of their rare, so-called holiday celebrations, of course.

      1. Dark colors are great for the pear shaped figure. The other stooges wouldn’t dare go Mandela colors.

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