NK shudders under reign of terror
Hyon Yong-chol, left, chief of the North Korean People’s Armed Forces, is seen with eyes closed in this photo taken during an armed forces meeting in April this year. The National Intelligence Service confirmed that Hyon has been executed. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, right and Hwang Pyong-so, vice marshal of the North Korean army, also attended the meeting. / Yonhap
Young dictator has defense chief killed for dozing off
By Kang Seung-woo
North Korea’s young dictator Kim Jong-un has once again proved that he is a barbaric dictator by killing his defense minister in a brutal way over somewhat trivial matters.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) announced Wednesday that Hyon Yong-chol, the chief of the People’s Armed Forces, was killed by anti-aircraft gunfire on April 30 as hundreds watched at a military academy in northern Pyongyang.
The spy agency added that he was executed for dozing off during a military meeting presided over by Kim and failing to obey his instructions.
“Unlike the executions of Ri Yong-ho and Jang Song-thaek, that of Hyun was carried out three days after his arrest without any notification,” the NIS said.
Ri was a former vice marshal and Jang was the No. 2 man in Kim’s regime and the leader’s uncle. They were killed in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
North Korean watchers say that Kim’s reign of terror stems from self-righteousness and arrogance.
“Kim does not accept any minor things that he believes are disrespectful to him, so he has conducted many exchanges of personnel, and a number of executions,” said Chang Yong-seok, a senior researcher at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies of Seoul National University. He added that in contrast, his father Kim Jong-il trusted his aides.
“Once, Kim ordered the military to continuously conduct exercises in order to tighten military discipline after the farming season in which the military provides assistance.”
Chang predicted that Hyun and Han Kwang-sang, the North’s top finance official who was also executed this year, may have taken issues with their leader’s “preposterous” instructions.
World Institute for North Korea Studies head An Chan-il also said that Kim’s excessive policy enforcement may have led to Hyun’s execution.
“The North Korean military is dealing with a slew of businesses. But with Kim’s ceaseless pushes without much support, the military’s complaints against him may have accumulated,” said An.
Citing a North Korean defector, identified as one of the highest-level officials to escape the isolated country, CNN reported Tuesday that Jang was executed after suggesting developing the economy first over Kim’s pet projects, the Masikryong Ski Resort and Munsu Water Park.
Since Kim took power in December 2011, more than 70 senior officials have been killed, including eight this year. This number is in stark contrast to 10 officials, executed by his father during the first four years of the elder Kim’s regime.
However, Kim’s brutality in purging his aides has fueled skepticism about the efficacy of his leadership inside the repressive state.
“Doubts about Kim’s governing style are spreading among North Korean senior officials,” the NIS said.
The North Korean defector also backed the NIS, saying that Kim’s cruelty is shocking those around him, adding that the dictator is taking ruling by fear to a new level.
“During his first three years in power, hundreds of the elite have been executed,” the defector told CNN on Wednesday.
“A lot of top officials in North Korea are not sure which direction Kim Jong-un is taking them in. He doesn’t know how to be a leader. He doesn’t know politics, economics, culture or diplomacy.”
Chang said, “Unless the North Korean elite fully trust their leader, Kim’s support base may weaken.”
North Korea experts believe that Kim’s reign of terror comes from his fragile legitimacy.
“Kim Jong-un is obviously not secure with traveling around his own country, let alone going beyond its borders,” Adam Cathcart, a North Korea expert at Leeds University in England, said in an article, published on the Conversation, an Australian non-profit news website on May 1.
He added that the leader has yet to set foot in any number of major cities and production points in the state despite taking power more than three years ago.
“This is certainly not the behavior of a confident dictator,” said Cathcart.
Last week, the Rodong Sinmun, the mouthpiece of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, published pictures of Kim observing the test-firing of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) that the South Korean military confirmed was successful.
However, Joseph Bermudez, a top North Korea military expert, claimed that the North seems to have “photo-shopped“ images that the regime claims are evidence of the test’s success to exaggerate progress in SLBM development.
The North is known for using photo editing in order to portray the supreme leader as mighty and majestic.
“To create an ideal image of Kim for the international community as well as its people, such photo manipulation is done under the instructions of the leader,” said Kim Heung-kwang, chief of the North Korea Intellectual Solidarity.