Don't be a relative of Uncle...

[JimC]

From today's Age:

Kim Jong-un rounds up the relations

More than a hundred relations of Jang Song-thaek, who was executed by firing squad on charges of plotting to overthrow the North Korean state, have reportedly been arrested and sent to prison camps.

Security officials are said to have descended on a suburb of Pyongyang, the capital, to round up family members of Jang, who was uncle by marriage to Kim Jong-un, the reclusive state's leader.

Although it is common in North Korea for family members of anyone found guilty of a crime also to be punished, the scale of the latest arrests underlines the lengths to which the country's new "Dear Leader" is going to eradicate his former mentor from the nation's history.

"At around 10pm on the night of [December] 13, the day after Jang was executed, armed men from the Ministry of State Security arrived in the Pyongchon area of Pyongyang, where a lot of his relations lived," a source in the North Korean capital told the Daily NK news website, which is run by defectors based in South Korea. "They took away a few hundred people. It was not just his close relations, but distant members of his family too, like relations of his father. In these circumstances, even his relations outside Pyongyang are not safe."

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Jang, whose widow Kim Kyung-hui is a blood relation of the 30-year-old leader and has so far been spared the same fate, was charged with 24 abuses of power or contraventions of North Korean law, with the ultimate aim of overthrowing the leadership.

These ranged from "gnawing at the unity and cohesion of the party" to "dreaming different dreams" and "creating illusion about himself". Also accused of "committing irregularities and corruption that led to a dissolute and depraved life", having "improper relations with several women" and "squandering foreign currency at casinos", Jang was summarily executed.

As soon as he was arrested, relations and anyone with links to a man previously considered untouchable realised that the state's retribution had just begun. Execution is the likely punishment for his closest allies, while others face being dispatched to North Korea's labour colonies for the rest of their lives.

Some of those at risk are said to have volunteered to submit to "revolutionisation" by working in mines or on farms to avoid execution. "It seems like they are trying to take self-imposed punishment in order to evade a more stringent one, but they will find it difficult to escape," the Daily NK said. "Jang's crimes are 'anti-party, counter-revolutionary factionalism', so they will have to say that his family challenged the system. For this reason, severe punishment awaits."

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

Any relation of anyone who's been arrested would be wise to just get the fuck out of the country immediately, it seems. Easier said than done, I know. But....

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Whatever you do, if the security forces corner you, don't cry, "Uncle!"

[JimC]

The persecution of a kinship group with potentially dangerous ambition is not unknown in human history. This regime is mired deep in an uncivilised past.

Would anybody really object if a serious "coalition of the willing" destroyed the regime, using every possible technological trick possible?

[JimC]

Whatever you do, if the security forces corner you, don't cry, "Uncle!"

So, it's unlikely that re-runs of "The Man from Uncle" will feature on their TV playlists?

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Whatever you do, if the security forces corner you, don't cry, "Uncle!"

So, it's unlikely that re-runs of "The Man from Uncle" will feature on their TV playlists?

It could well be that dissidents found viewing a smuggled episode of that very show sparked this purge.

[FBM]

The persecution of a kinship group with potentially dangerous ambition is not unknown in human history. This regime is mired deep in an uncivilised past.

Yup. French Revolution all over again up there.

Would anybody really object if a serious "coalition of the willing" destroyed the regime, using every possible technological trick possible?

Well, China, but probably only because NK is so near its border and they (China) don't want ferrin fireworks in their neck of the woods. If we could convince China to do it themselves, that would be a blessing. But then they would probably want to expand their territory into NK, which would be a problem.

[mistermack]

I think South Korea's attempts to improve relations are a waste, and should stop.
They have these factories near the border, I would stop it now. And the US is making a mistake with concessions and any lifting of sanctions.
Why ease the pressure, even a little bit? China is getting a bit sick of it now, the signs are there.
Let the fuckers stew in their own juice. It will be better and quicker, in the long run.

[FBM]

One thing is that SK is (something like) a democracy and there are a lot of people who don't want to take a hardline stance. The current president and the previous one are both from the same conservative party that is most anti-North. The one before that was in the more liberal party, and during that time NK secretly got a lot of nuke work done. It's a tough call.

[cronus]

The needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many.

[pErvinalia]

Surely the world (and NK) would be better with China running the show there. The chinese need to get some modern war practice in. They talk a big game, but don't have much experience. They need to break their cherry.

[FBM]

I'm kinda leaning towards a joint operation between SK and China in which SK agrees that no US military will set foot north of the DMZ after regime change.

[mistermack]

North Korea is basically being run by bandits, and terrorists. They should be getting no help in that from anybody.
The tactics of terror are there for anybody to see. Making your entire family suffer, for something you did, is classic terror tactics that have been used for thousands of years. The Romans would do it, as soon as they got control of any country. People like Saddam Hussein and Stalin used it.
It's just about the most effective control weapon there is.

[pErvinalia]

I think I might invade North Korea. I've got nothing else to do.

[FBM]

I think I might invade North Korea. I've got nothing else to do.

I should be freed up by the weekend. Need a backup? Or somebody to photograph it?