[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.