North Korea, Jan 03: Unlike previous executions of political prisoners, the execution of Jang Song Thaek on December 12 was reportedly one of the most brutal ones ever conducted by the North Korean regime.
According to a detailed account published in Wen Wei Po, a Hong Kong based Chinese newspaper, Jang Song Thaek, Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-Un’s uncle and the second most powerful man in North Korea, was stripped naked and thrown into a cage of 120 hounds who had been starved for three days.
During the brutal execution, which was reportedly personally overseen by Kim Jong Un, the hounds were allowed to prey on Jang Song Thaek and five of his closest aides who also had been stripped and thrown into the cage. According to the report, the entire process lasted for about an hour by the end of which they were completely eaten up. This is called “quan je” or “execution by dogs”.
Political prisoners are usually executed by a firing squad.
Referring to the execution for the first time in his New Year’s address, Kim Jong Un said that the state had become stronger after it was purged of “factional filth”.
And as he called for better relations with South Korea, he warned that another war on the Korean peninsula would cause a massive nuclear disaster that would hit the US.
Kim, the third generation of his family to rule North Korea, did not refer by name to his uncle Jang Song Thaek, who was executed last month in a rare public purge for crimes against the ruling Workers’ Party and harming national interest.
“Our party took a firm measure to get rid of factional filth that permeated the party,” Kim said in a broadcast on state televsion that appeared to be pre-recorded, without showing if he was speaking to an audience.
“Our unity strengthened hundredfold and party and revolutionary lines became more solid by purging the anti-party and anti-revolutionary faction,” Kim said.
After the sudden death of Kim’s father in December 2011, Jang acted as regent to his young nephew as Kim established himself in power. With the purge, Kim may have chosen to remove the only man who may have posed any real threat to him.
Kim’s call for improved ties with the South lacked any outline of steps to end the acrimony, and followed a threat from Pyongyang last month to strike Seoul without notice.
“It is time to end abuse and slander that is only good for doing harm … We will try hard to improve North-South ties,” Kim said, adding that “dark clouds of nuclear war constantly hovered over the Korean peninsula”.
“If there ever is once again war on this land, it will bring about an enormous nuclear disaster and the United States will not be spared from it,” he said.
The two Koreas remain technically at war under a truce that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. The US maintains 28,500 troops in South Korea in joint defence against the North.
Leave a Reply