HELP Doctorate Recipient Executes Uncle

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (right) with his uncle, Jang Song Thaek. Image credit: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/northkorean-leader-kim-jong-un-sacks-powerful-uncle-and-has-his-aides-executed-8980437.html

 










Jang Song-Thaek, the uncle of its leader Kim Jong-un, is escorted into court on December 12, 2013. YONHAPYONHAP/AFP/Getty Images

The world heard about North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un’s execution of his uncle Jang Song-Thaek last month. It was startling if not shocking because the ousted Jang was considered instrumental in Kim's rise to power in December 2011 and, until very recently, was regarded as the second-most powerful figure in North Korea.

 

But the young leader turned his back on his uncle in spectacular fashion by having him shot before a firing squad on charges he tried to overthrow the government.

 

With his dispatch, Kim may have removed the only man who may have posed any real threat to him.

 

The death of Jang, who was married to Kim's paternal aunt Kyong Hui – she is a daughter of founding leader and “eternal President” Kim Il-sung, who died in 1994 – was announced in an unusually public declaration by the reclusive regime. Purges and executions of senior officials are believed to have taken place under the country's previous leaders, Kim's father and grandfather, but without the public trumpeting.

 

North Korean state media attacked Jang's character and detailed an extensive list of his alleged crimes, describing him as "despicable human scum."

 

Anyway, Kim’s New Year’s address on Wednesday praised Jang’s removal.

 

"As our Party detected and purged the anti-Party, counterrevolutionary factionalists at an opportune time and with a correct decision, the Party and revolutionary ranks were further consolidated and our single-hearted unity was solidified to the maximum," Kim said, according to the text of the speech carried by North Korean state media.

 

Oops, I forgot to refer to him as (Dr) Kim Jong-Un! Hmmm, I wonder if there is an enormous portrait of Kim at HELP University!