Kim Jong Un's uncle executed in North Korea
MOSCOW. Dec 13 (Interfax) - Jang Song Thaek, an uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, suspected of an attempt to overthrow the authorities has been executed in North Korea, the KCNA news agency reported on Friday.
A special military tribunal of North Korea's State Security Ministry on December 12 "vehemently condemned him as a wicked political careerist, trickster and traitor for all ages in the name of the revolution and the people and ruled that he would be sentenced to death," KCNA reported.
"The decision was immediately executed," the report reads.
According to the tribunal decision Jang "is a traitor to the nation for all ages who perpetrated anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts in a bid to overthrow the leadership of our party and state and the socialist system," KCNA said.
"Despicable human scum Jang, who was worse than a dog, perpetrated thrice-cursed acts of treachery in betrayal of such profound trust and warmest paternal love shown by the party and the leader for him," the report reads.
The tribunal ruled that in particular Jang was "overtly and covertly standing in the way of settling the issue of succession to the leadership" of Kim Jong Un. However, he did not dare "raise his head when Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il were alive." In particular, when Kim Jong Un was proclaimed vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea Jang "behaved so arrogantly and insolently as unwillingly standing up from his seat and half-heartedly clapping."
His other crimes include "such anti-party acts as systematically denying the party's line and policies, its organizational will, in the past period."
Jang also "schemed to drive the economy of the country and people's living conditions into an uncontrollable catastrophe." Jang's actions in particular sparked the serious economic crisis in North Korea in 2009.
Jang also instructed his associates to sell off North Korea's natural resources but the deals turned only losses, which made him lease "the land of the Rason economic and trade zone to a foreign country for a period of five decades under the pretext of paying those debts."
He also "deliberately disturbed construction in Pyongyang."
"Jang encouraged money-making under various pretexts to secure funds necessary for gratifying his political greed and was engrossed in irregularities and corruption," the report reads.
Jang was involved "in distributing all sorts of pornographic pictures among his confidants since 2009." He also "took at least 4.6 million Euro from his secret coffers and squandered it in 2009 alone and enjoyed himself in casino in a foreign country," KCNA said.
Among Jang's exploits the tribunal named the fact that he "turned down the unanimous request of the service personnel of a unit of the Korean People's Internal Security Forces to have the autograph letter sent by Kim Jong Un to the unit carved on a natural granite and erected with good care in front of the building of its command. He was so reckless as to instruct the unit to erect it in a shaded corner."
Jang admitted his guilt at the tribunal meeting. He also confessed that "comrade supreme leader [Kim Jong Un] is the target of the coup."
"It was my intention to concentrate my department and all economic organs on the Cabinet and become premier when the economy went totally bankrupt and the state is on the verge of collapse in a certain period. I thought that if I solved the problem of people's living conditions to a certain measure by spending an enormous amount of funds I have accumulated under various names after becoming premier, the people and service personnel will shout "hurrah" for me and I will succeed in the coup in a smooth way," KCNA quoted Jang's confession.
It was reported earlier that Jang was dismissed from all his posts over "anti-party and counter-revolutionary factional acts" at a an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers Party of North Korea on December 8.
Jang Song Thaek was born in 1946. He was married to Kim Kyong Hui, the daughter of Kim Il Sung, the sister of Kim Jong Il and aunt of Kim Jong Un.