North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has purged his uncle Jang Song-thaek, after allegations of crimes that include womanizing and gambling.
The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has proved that nobody is beyond the reach of his cane, as his once powerful uncle Jang Song-thaek has been purged from his position for crimes that include faction-building, drug use, womanizing and gambling.
The normally discreet North Korean media have reacted to the news by splurging the world’s media of photographic images of Song-thaek as he is forcible removed from his chair, by officials, during a meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea.
It’s not the first time that Kim Jong-un has made changes to the higher echelons of power after the military chief Ri Yong Ho was also removed from office due to ‘ill health’ last year.
“It is the most prominent disgrace of an official in North Korea’s entire history,” Andrei Lankov, an expert on the North at Kookmin University, told the Guardian, “Purges in the past have seldom touched members of the family; the only precedent I remember was in the mid-70s when the brother of Kim Il-sung was removed. As far as I understand there was no official accusation brought against him; he was simply sent to the countryside.
“Secondly, when they have purged people in the past it was mentioned in passing.
“It tells us something about the new leadership’s style: the young man seems really tough and brutal in dealing with people he wants to destroy.”
A report from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that Jang had ‘seriously obstructed the nation’s economic affairs and the improvement of the standard of people’s living.
“By abusing his power, he was engrossed in irregularities and corruption, had improper relations with several women and was wined and dined at back parlors of deluxe restaurants.
“Ideologically sick and extremely idle and easy-going, he used drugs and squandered foreign currency at casinos while he was receiving medical treatment in a foreign country under the care of the party.”
Somehow you get the feeling that match fixing wouldn’t be a problem in the North Korean DPR League and it is in the UK equivalent.
Let’s Hope Dennis Rodman Doesn’t Understand What Faction Building is
Perhaps, Dennis Rodman has heavily influenced Jang Song-Thaek?
The former NBA star has a CV littered with a history of addictions that would seemingly result in a North Korean incarceration, with the exception of faction building, but that hasn’t stopped the North Korean leader from taking a shine to the guy.
“You have a friend for life,” the leader told Rodman after his first visit to the normally secretive country.
The former wild man will be returning to North Korea on Dec 18th to continue his work with the North Korean national basketball team who will play an exhibition match against former NBA players in January.
The Irish funsters PaddyPower are sponsoring Rodman’s Korean trip, which is not surprising given the fact that the lads in green have worked with the North Korean leader in the past (as shown in the video below).
