Asia-Pacific

North Korean leader’s uncle executed after a military trial

Jang Song Thaek stripped of all posts at December 8th meeting

A still image taken from North Korea’s state-run KRT television footage and released by Yonhap on December 9th shows Jang Song Thaek being forcibly removed by uniformed personnel from a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) in Pyongyang. Photograph: REUTERS/Yonhap

Thu Dec 12 2013 - 22:47

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s uncle Jang Song Thaek was executed immediately after a military trial yesterday, the nation’s official Korean Central News Agency reported today.

The trial took place less than a week after Mr Jang was grabbed by the arms by two military officers and removed from a December 8th meeting of the ruling Workers' Party in Pyongyang and stripped of all his posts.

Mr Jang attempted “to overthrow the state,” KCNA said. “All the crimes committed by the accused were proved in the course of the hearing and were admitted by him.”

Executing Mr Jang, who helped engineer the transfer of leadership to Kim from his father Kim Jong Il, caps the highest-profile purge since the younger Kim took power two years ago.

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Mr Jang led an economic delegation to China last year as North Korea struggles to revive its economy. Mr Jang, who married Kim Jong Un's aunt Kim Kyong Hui in 1972, was appointed as vice chairman of the National Defence Commission, the highest seat of power in Pyongyang, just months before longtime ruler Kim Jong Il died in December 2010.

Bloomberg

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