Monday, December 9, 2013

Pyongyang Family Values

The boy-tyrant of North Korea, Kim Jong Un has sacked his own uncle (by marriage) from positions of leadership, including the North Korean Army and its Worker's Party.  The uncle, Jang Song Thaek, had been considered the mentor of the North Korean leader when he assumed control of North Korea after his father's death in 2011.  He was accused of corruption, womanizing, and numerous other charges, and yesterday was arrested and physically removed from a large assembly of the Worker's Party.  He's also been airbrushed out of official photos, and deleted from political documentaries in North Korea, "non-person status" which usually means that he'll be harvesting rocks for the rest of his life at best.

Along with his nuclear saber-rattling and unpredictable actions, Kim Jong Un has now demonstrated that immediate family aren't immune from his bizarre behavior.  Family gatherings must be tense to say the least.

(photo:  Jang Song Thaek being led away to more Spartan accommodations.  Courtesy Yonghap/Agence France-Presse)

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