North Korea Executes Kim Relative

歌曲 North Korea Executes Kim Relative
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[00:00.10] From VOA Learning English,
[00:06.86] this is In the News.
[00:08.96] This week, North Korea
[00:11.11] executed the uncle of leader Kim Jong Un.
[00:15.57] The official Korean Central News Agency said
[00:19.54] Jang Song Thaek was put to death on Thursday
[00:23.55] after facing a special military court.
[00:27.20] It said Jang was found guilty of attempting
[00:31.05] to overthrow the state, party and leadership.
[00:35.50] He was also accused of womanizing and drug abuse.
[00:40.95] The announcement came just days after Jang Song Thaek
[00:45.71] was publicly ousted from power
[00:48.38] for suspected disloyalty and corruption.
[00:52.48] Korean Central Television broadcast images of his arrest
[00:57.34] on Sunday at a meeting of the Korean Workers' Party.
[01:01.94] On Friday, the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper
[01:07.25] published pictures of Jang at the military trial.
[01:11.67] They showed him lowering his head,
[01:14.32] with guards on both sides.
[01:16.86] Andrei Lankov is a professor of Korean history
[01:22.02] at Kookmin University in South Korea.
[01:25.67] He says ousters, or purges,
[01:28.97] of North Korean officials are not uncommon.
[01:32.97] But he says the level of publicity in this case is unusual.
[01:39.12] "In the past, hundreds or maybe even thousands
[01:42.22] of high level officials have been purged.
[01:45.42] Some of them executed.
[01:47.02] Some of them were sent to exile or prison.
[01:49.98] However, with very few exceptions in most areas,
[01:54.68] purges have always been fixed.
[01:57.28] Unlike say the Soviet Union under Stalin,
[02:00.44] when they remove the high level official,
[02:03.06] they usually did not make it public.
[02:06.81] When they did, it was never on such a scale."
[02:11.56] Leonid Petrov is a Korea expert
[02:14.96] with the Australian National University.
[02:17.96] He questions whether Jang Song Thaek
[02:21.31] was actually plotting to overthrow the government.
[02:25.11] "I think this has nothing to do with what really happened.
[02:27.46] Jang Song Thaek was a loyal member of Kim's regime.
[02:32.92] He was appointed by Kim Jong Il to supervise his son.
[02:36.84] Jang Song Thaek was doing everything possible
[02:39.18] to promote Kim Jong Un's image."
[02:42.54] Leonid Petrov says a personal or family dispute
[02:47.29] could have led to the execution.
[02:49.74] But he says it is also clear
[02:52.59] that Mr. Kim considered his uncle a threat.
[02:56.55] And he says the North Korean leader felt the need
[03:00.65] to send a message that he is in complete control.
[03:05.13] "The elites are scared to death at the moment.
[03:08.03] And the grassroots population of North Korea
[03:10.94] also gets the message that it is Kim Jong Un
[03:13.79] who is in the driving seat.
[03:14.89] They must follow his orders,
[03:16.79] and there's simply no alternative
[03:18.85] or any place for dissent in North Korea."
[03:22.05] Mr. Jang was quietly ousted from power not once,
[03:26.54] but two times under the former North Korean leader.
[03:30.35] But he regained power with the help of his wife Kim Kyong Hui,
[03:36.21] the sister of the former leader.
[03:38.46] Much of North Korea's central leadership
[03:42.26] is from the rule of Kim Jong Il.
[03:45.21] Many officials are in their 60s or 70s.
[03:49.47] This has led some observers to debate the level
[03:54.27] of their support for 30-year-old Kim Jong Un.
[03:58.62] Mr. Kim took power two years ago.
[04:02.13] Since then,
[04:03.25] he has replaced more than 40 percent of high level officials,
[04:08.85] and built his rule with a younger generation loyal to him.
[04:14.25] There were no signs of unrest in North Korea following the execution.
[04:20.15] But the South Korean Defense Ministry said
[04:23.50] it was closely watching the North Korean military
[04:27.47] for aggressive movements.
[04:29.77] On Friday, the office of South Korea's president
[04:33.92] held a national security meeting
[04:36.91] to discuss the situation on the Korean peninsula.
[04:41.32] A Unification Ministry official said
[04:44.67] South Korea is watching the events with concern.
[04:48.98] And that's In the News, from VOA Learning English.
[04:54.94] I'm Steve Ember.