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N.Korea Shuts Down Jang Song-taek's Department The North Korean regime has shut down the Workers Party department once headed by purged eminence grise Jang Song-taek and executed or interned 11 high-ranking officials, sources said Sunday. One of them was burned alive. A source said the regime is preparing a third purge of officials who supported Jang. The first purge involved his family, relatives and high-ranking party officials, while the second purge underway. The third will target his supporters in provincial chapters of the Workers Party. The source said Jang's elder sister Kye-sun and her husband and ambassador to Cuba Jon...

N.Korea 'to Execute 200 Jang Song-taek Loyalists' North Korea is poised to execute 200 high-ranking officials loyal to ousted eminence grise Jang Song-taek, a source said Tuesday. Some 1,000 members of their families could be sent to concentration camps under the North's barbaric system of guilt by association. The source said the State Security Department has conducted a sweep to ferret out Jang's supporters after his execution in December last year and identified 200 core supporters and another 1,000 followers. The department has authorization from the North's highest court to hold closed-door trials to deliver death sentences, the source added....

Rivalries Within North Korean Elite Led to Purge, South’s Spy Chief Says By CHOE SANG-HUN SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s intelligence chief said Monday that Jang Song-thaek, the uncle of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, who was executed this month, apparently had not plotted a coup as Pyongyang had said, but had fallen victim to intrigue within the country’s elite over lucrative business deals, according to lawmakers in Seoul. Mr. Jang, 67, who was once believed to be the second most powerful man in North Korea, was executed on Dec. 12 on charges of plotting to overthrow his...

Is Kim Jong-un a Puppet of Hardline Brass? Speculation is growing that hardline North Korean generals were behind the execution of leader Kim Jong-un's uncle Jang Song-taek and that Kim was merely their pawn. That would be worrying for South Korea, which would face an increased threat of military provocations. Park Hyung-joong at the Korea Institute for National Unification said Jang's purge was part of a power struggle where factions in the military that Jang had stripped of their lucrative businesses tried to regain them. Forces opposed to Jang, who was seen as a moderate, used a purported challenge to...

December 26, 2011 Jang Song-taek Cements Position in N.Korean Regime Jang Song-taek, the uncle and patron of new North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, appeared on state TV on Sunday dressed in full military uniform for the first time. Until now, Jang had only been spotted in a suit and tie. Korean Central TV broadcast footage of Kim Jong-un and Jang paying their respects to dead leader Kim Jong-il, who lies in state at Kumsusan Memorial Hall in Pyongyang. Jang's insignia confirm his military status as a four-star general in addition to his existing titles of vice chairman of the powerful...

The most dangerous regime on earth may reveal the identity of its next leader on Tuesday. On Tuesday, the North Korean regime, always opaque and endlessly fascinating, will reveal the identity of its next leader.Maybe.The Korean Workers’ Party will hold its first major gathering since 1980 this week. At the 1980 Congress, Kim Jong Il, the current leader, made his debut. Analysts think his son, Kim Jong Un, will be introduced at the event as the next Kim to rule the North.Not much is known about the autocrat-in-waiting. He is the youngest of the three acknowledged sons of Kim Jong...

Kim Jong-il's Sister Treated for Alcoholism in Paris: Tokyo Shimbun 58-year-old Kim Kyung-hee, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and head of the light industries section of the Korean Worker's Party Economic Policy Audit Department, received treatment in Paris, France for alcohol dependency and psychological disorders, Japan's Tokyo Shimbun reported Friday, quoting multiple sources familiar with North Korea. One source said that while it was unclear when Kim went to Paris, he had information claiming it was this summer, and she returned to Korea early this month following treatment. The source added that it's unclear whether she is...