South Korean and U.S. officials now believe that North Korea has set its sights since last year on test firing a long-range missile on the centenary of nation founder Kim Il-sung on April 15, and that its pledge of a moratorium on missile launches in an agreement with Washington in February was a cynical ploy to extract aid.
A bloody purge in North Korea following the sudden death of leader Kim Jong-il late last year saw barbaric methods including mortar rounds used to execute high-ranking military officials, a South Korean government source said Wednesday.
"When Kim Jong-un became North Korean leader following the mourning period for his father in late December, high-ranking military officers started disappearing," the source said. "From information compiled over the last month, we have concluded that dozens of military officers were purged." The source added Kim Jong-un ordered loyal officials to "get rid of" anyone caught misbehaving during the mourning period for Kim Jong-il.
But contrary to reports that an assistant chief of the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces was put in front of a firing squad for being drunk during the mourning period, he was executed using a mortar round in line with Kim's orders to leave "no trace of him behind, down to his hair."
The source said the official was placed on the spot where the round would hit, and the grisly execution obliterated him.
Besides the assistant chief and an assistant chief of the General Staff Department, frontline commanders were also executed, the source said.
Terror, of course, is the dictator's oldest and dearest friend; especially for those tricky early days when power is still being consolidated. As the late Christopher Hitchens tells it here, (it's well worth revisiting this clip) Hitler and Stalin were masters, but perhaps the greatest exponent in recent times was Saddam Hussein.
Plus the Kims. And they're still with us.
Comments