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| Kim Jong-Un (File Photo) |
By Ankit Panda
Kim Jong-Un sends a series of powerful messages by purging his uncle, who was seen as a reformist.
When I last reported on Jang Song-Thaek’s purge from the top echelon’s of North Korean leadership, few details had emerged about why precisely Kim Jong-Un had decided to take the steps he did. Jang, the young Kim’s uncle, brother-in-law to his father, was vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission (NDC).
Since then, reports emerged that the specific reasons for Jang’s dismissal, as stated by the Kim regime, included factionalism, corruption, substance abuse, anti-state activities (something his closest associates were executed for) and womanizing. The latter point suggests that Jang and his wife, Kim Kyong-Hui (Kim Jong-Il’s sister, a full-blooded Kim by any measure) had grown estranged. Kim Jong-Un’s overture to take action against Jang was probably abetted by this development.
Jang’s purge is a huge deal and the relatively public airing of information around the circumstances of his removal by the regime suggest that Kim Jong-Un wants it known that he no longer requires the sort of “adult supervision” Jang was perceived to provide.
Read the full story at The Diplomat