More Purge Rumors from North Korea
According to the week’s juiciest North Korea gossip, the proteges of Jang Song Thaek, Kim Jong Il’s brother-in-law, and O Kuk Ryol, Kim Jong Il’s long-standing associate, are being purged to consolidate Kim Jong Eun’s prospects for succession:
A high-level North Korean source said that nearly 200 senior officials were executed or detained by the State Security Department in early December last year. They include many senior officials of trading companies under the military and the party, such as the head of Sogyong Trading Corporation under the party’s Financial and Accounting Department; the head of “No. 54” Trading Company under the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces; Pak Jong-su, the chief of a military-run coal trading company; the head of the general bureau of fuel oil; and Ri Jong-ho, the head of Taehung Trading Company.
Ri Chol-su, the head of the Taehung Trading Company’s Wonsan branch and a protege of Jang’s, jumped to his death during interrogation by the State Security Department on charges of illegally amassing of wealth and espionage. The matter was about to be closed after his suicide but instead it fueled a second-round of purges, with many others arrested on the strength of statements extracted under interrogation.
The purge was conducted with zeal by the senior deputy chief of the State Security Department U Dong-chuk, who discussed details of the plan with Kim father and son.
It’s frankly hard to know what to make of this. The reports of O’s associates being purged are consistent with past reports, but this is the first report I’ve read in a published source that Jang was being sidelined. The only thing I’ve heard to that effect is an unpublished rumor I heard from a well-connected South Korean source. According to that rumor, the real power-broker in Pyongyang now isn’t really Jang Song Taek, but his wife (and Kim Jong Il’s sister) Kim Kyong Hui. My source tells me that the relationship between Kyong Hui and Jang Song Thaek lies somewhere between that of the Clintons and the Borgias. This report is consistent with those rumors, but there’s really no way of knowing whether any of this is true.
I treat reports about North Korea’s palace intrigues with particular suspicion. What interests me more is the very existence of a purge or power struggle, because either has the potential to reverse the usual dynamic, by which members of the “core” class are invested in the system’s stability. Purges can be stabilizing in the medium term, but in the short term, it’s not hard to see the destabilizing potential of placing powerful people — possibly people who are armed, or who control people who are — in a kill-or-be-killed situation.
Possibly related: More North Koreans are said to be applying for Chinese citizenship, which could be either of cause or an effect of the purge.
such as the head of Sogyong Trading Corporation under the party’s Financial and Accounting Department; the head of “No. 54″ Trading Company under the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces; Pak Jong-su, the chief of a military-run coal trading company; the head of the general bureau of fuel oil; and Ri Jong-ho, the head of Taehung Trading Company.
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Heads rolling…literally….
This is strange to me because Jang Song Taek was supposed to help hold it together until Baby Kim could take full charge of things. I guess you can’t even trust extended family (in-laws) in NK.
It’s a hell of a leap from this to the purging of Jang, and I suspect that the truth lies somewhere inbetween, with some of the juicier, and therefore very much enjoyed by the Chosun Ilbo-ite public, facts probably revealing themselves to be creative extrapolations of the truth.
But never say never. It is true that the best way to sideline the Jang-ist faction is to put a bullet in its leader. On the other hand, I think Oh has been destined for the scrap heap for a while now.
If the old guys are told to retire, that’s one thing. If they’re imprisoned or killed, that’s very different. I’m not sure if it’s better or worse, but it’s different.
Will, you make a very good point. And I recommend that you follow your logic. For while North Korea is opaque and murderous, and it decisions periodically heavily misguided, it tends to be following a plan.
So, for example, unless he has done something very silly since September, which he might have since he is not known for keeping his head down, it is unlikely that Jang Sung Taek, who became a member of the Central Military Commission and the Central Committee at the Delegates’ Conference, has been dragged out and shot shortly after Christmas. It just doesn’t make that much sense.
Oh, on the other hand, was not elevated in September, and his power comes from the shrivelling National Defense Commission. It’s fundamentally a different game.
Oh, and the story came from the weekend Chosun Ilbo supplement, which has, to be kind, lower standards for scurilous rumor than the weekday version, a fact which weekday readers of North Korea news may have trouble believing, but there it is. Not saying this story is false, but forewarned is forearmed.
Suppose we might note that Jang didn’t turn up at Kim Jong Il’s first outing of the New Year, too. So he might be dead or languishing in a prison cell. But then Kim Jong Eun didn’t go with Dad either, and I don’t see the Chosun Ilbo reporting his arrest~
We spend too much time seeking corroboration. Unlike Joshua, I give great credence to palace gossip, whether it is proven or not.
A horrible system really does horrific things. Maybe these people haven’t all been killed — but the track record of all dictatorships is to keep one’s associates off-balance by purges, and even reinstatements. The history of monarchies is that the blood family will sacrifice all others, including spouses and their spouse’s blood families, in order to preserve their own hereditary lineage. (Just think, “Braveheart.”)
The enforced “retirement” of older Marshalls, CEOs, political cronies and even close (but not blood) family means that there are more opportunities for the young. So, while one may be aghast at the cruelty of such removals, there will be a large number of sycophantic (and sometimes very able) younger hangers-on who will applaud and appreciate it.
It is only unstabilizing if the losers have a loyal constituency that is as powerful or more powerful than the up-and-coming graspers. Otherwise, it is rejuvenating.