OK, then–“Kim Jong-suk’s Birthday” is gonna be awkward this year.
According to one (or more) of the articles I’ve seen, the only real surprise is that something like this happened this soon, as opposed to sometime later.
That sounds about right to me. In all of the most vicious totalitarian governments we’ve known about, isn’t this pretty much par for the course for the Alpha Dog to purge his closest associates (who are also the best positioned to be rivals), sooner or later?
And North Korea is certainly one of the more barbaric regimes around – as those closest to power there are best positioned to be well aware of.
So why would not Jang Song Thaek realize that he’s going to be toast sooner or later? Why would he, or anyone, want to be anywhere within a thousand miles of the centers of power there? Or anywhere near the centers of power in Hitler’s Germany, or Stalin’s USSR, or Julius Caesar’s Rome?
There can be only one conclusion: He WAS planning a coup, and imagined he could get away with it, but they beat him to it. (Compare: Brutus, who acted in time.) It’s the only sensible, logical explanation. Assuming that there exists ANY sensible, logical explanation for anything that goes on in North Korea.
There. I’m an erudite political analyst now.
ETA: Or even if he wasn’t planning a coup, it’s always prudent for the Alpha Dog to assume he is anyway.
The equivalence of Kim Jong Un to Julius Caesar is tenuous.
It’s like a real life Game of Thrones.
News reports have been saying the Uncle was the number two guy in North Korea. Didn’t do him much good. He was dragged off in front of the cameras like a common criminal.
I can’t help but wonder if he was considered a more moderate influence? Someone above mentioned he supported China’s economic policies. I’d guess he still had plenty of blood on his hands. He was a top official in N Korea for decades. I can’t see being a part of that totalitarian gov without being pretty ruthless.
Before Lil Kim took power, there was a lot of speculation that his uncle would really be running things and that Kim Jong Un would just be a puppet leader. This was all speculation of course, but it points to the uncle being rather powerful and influential within the North Korean inner circle.
My first thought was that this is some sort of internal power struggle. Kim Jong Un basically just eliminated the most powerful guy who held any influence over him from the days of his father’s regime.
I’ve lived in SK since '96. People down here hardly pay attention to the asshattery up there anymore unless it’s a genuine attack, like that ship or the island.
April 15? Hey, don’t forget to wish the Great Leader a happy birthday as you’re mailing your taxes!
Firing squad or Thaekomizer?
[DennisRodman]“No, no…Kim… its pronounced “Uncle” not “Un-Coup”! Just let it roll off of your tongue. Now try again…” [/DennisRodman]
He’ll be so ronery this year.
I’m wondering if this might be a good sign for that American preacher they’re still holding. Given that Kim’s uncle was pretty much dragged out into the street and shot, the fact that the preacher is still alive might mean that North Korea is planning to eventually let him go.
Jesus, that’s fucking dark.
Actually, Kim Sr = Augustus, Kim Jr = Tiberius, Kim 3 = Caligula.
Kim Sr actually had some education and political chops - he managed to walk the tightrope between China and the US and ended up with an armistice.
Kim Jr was reasonably stable, but he wanted to be left alone with his 30 course meals, women, expensive booze and bling.
Kim 3 is blowing through money, lives an opulent lifestyle and may have sold off serious gold to China [600 million or so, rumored], is hard core jealous of anybody else who might get any sort of power, is a military poseur. Not a good regime to live in if you pose any sort of threat to him.
Couldn’t a top level official get out of the country of some pretext?
Maybe go to say Hong King, waltz into the British embassy and ask for political asylum? The guy had to see this coming.
See, that’s what I’m thinking too. How can someone be that enmeshed in such a crazy-power regime and not see this coming, sooner or later? You’d have to expect that you will be accused of “plotting”, truly or falsely, eventually. It becomes a game of seeing who beats whom to the punch. (That was my Caesar connection, where in that case, Brutus beat Caesar to the punch.)
Didn’t Ста́лин (Stalin) pull this kind of shit too?
The problem, as I understand it, is that had he done so, his WHOLE family up to two generations in both directions (plus collateral branches) would be rounded up and sent to the gulags ipso facto.
Either he worried about them, or he was confident that he would be able to make a move before Lil’ Kim did.
It’s not as if his family will be much better now, of course. But perhaps they won’t be as badly treated as if he had fled.
I’m sure Kim will be compassionate.
