North Korea has recently test-fired a new anti-ship rocket that will be deployed “before long” at its naval units, according to its state media on Feb. 7, 2015. The photo here shows North Korea leader Kim Jong-un watching the test-firing, though details on when and where it was conducted are not available. (Yonhap)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un executed an army general last month in his latest purge of senior officials.
General Pyon In Son, head of operations in the Korean People’s Army, was killed for expressing an opinion different to that of Kim, a South Korean official told reporters in Seoul on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity as per government policy. The official didn’t say what they disagreed on.
Kim still mistrusts the military, the official said, adding that senior officers are growing increasingly uneasy. The “Supreme Leader” also removed Ma Won Chun, a National Defense Commission official overseeing construction design, from office in November for alleged corruption and a failure to follow orders.
Kim has relied on purges to consolidate his grip on power since he took over a country with a nuclear arms program and 1.2 million troops in 2011. After killing his uncle and one-time deputy Jang Song Thaek in 2013, he executed about 50 officials last year on charges ranging from graft to watching South Korean soap operas.
“The purge of Pyon sends a message that helps to discipline the military,” said Kim Yong Hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul. “The execution is a symbol that will help tighten loyalty.” [Bloomberg]
You can read more at the link, but it seems at some point if these purges continue the top brass in North Korea are not going to stand for it.
Bloomberg has an article published that looks at the importance of the wife and sister of Kim Jong-un:
One sports a Christian Dior handbag and favors Western clothes. The other carries a notebook and wears dark uniforms. These fashion opposites are the two most influential women in North Korea.
While Kim Jong Un’s wife Ri Sol Ju and younger sister Kim Yo Jong are currently allies in sustaining one of the world’s most reclusive leaders, their overlapping influence makes them potential rivals in a regime where family ties aren’t strong enough to protect against Kim’s penchant for purges.
These women of Pyongyang offer insight to an opaque regime that, while struggling to feed its people, is capable of maintaining 1.2 million men under arms and threatening neighbors with nuclear annihilation. Ri commands a growing following among the wives of North Korean elite while Kim Yo Jong now holds a senior position in the ruling Workers’ Party and serves as an adviser to her brother.
“Uneasiness is inevitable in a relationship like this,” Kang Myong Do, a son-in-law of North Korea’s former Prime Minister, Kang Song San, said by phone. “The wife wouldn’t like it if her husband got too close to his sister; the sister wouldn’t like it if her brother got too close to his wife.”
The sister would try to oust Ri if the first lady_ a “rag-tag commoner” compared to Kim Yo Jong — sought political power beyond the role of burnishing her husband’s public image, said Kang, who now teaches North Korean studies at Kyungmin University near Seoul.
Kim Yo Jong chooses to remain in her brother’s shadow at public events, while Ri locks arms with Kim Jong Un. In a photo released Jan. 21 by the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper, Kim Yo Jong hides behind a pole as she watches the back of her brother speaking to people at a shoe factory.
Still, Kim Yo Jong “has a lot of control over who has access to her brother, what they say to him, what documents they hand over — in short, she is a combination gatekeeper and traffic cop,” said Michael Madden, editor of the North Korea Leadership Watch blog. [Bloomberg]
You can read more at the link, but for all we know Ri Sol-ju and Kim Yo-jong could be best friends and thus no potential of power struggle between the two. I think it is pretty clear that Ri Sol-ju is there soften Kim’s public image while Kim Yo-jong is a person he trusts who takes care of things behind the scenes.
If Kim Jong-un does go to Russia for this trip I would not be surprised if one of the preconditions is that the South Koreans are not invited:
Russia’s foreign minister said Wednesday North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has given a “positive” response to President Vladimir Putin’s invitation to visit Russia in May for the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany.
But Seoul has yet to decide whether President Park Geun-hye will also go.
“The president’s schedule for May has not been fixed and many other events are set to take place,” said Blue House spokesman Min Kyung-wook in a briefing Thursday. “We will be reviewing [whether or not to accept Russia’s invitation] under such circumstances … We are not in a situation yet to rush to come up with a stance.”
On Wednesday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Kim Jong-un’s response had been “positive, as a first signal.”
Ever since December, when Moscow invited the leaders of both Koreas to an event it plans to hold in May, keen attention has been paid to whether Park and Kim would come face to face for the first time.
If Kim goes to Moscow, it will be the first foreign visit by the 32-year-old ruler since he assumed power in 2011 and his debut on the stage of international diplomacy. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but I guess this is a chance to see if Kim Jong-un is going to try some different diplomacy compared to his father.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C) tours a precision machine factory in Pyongyang. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency reported it on Jan. 16, 2015, without saying when the visit was made. (KCNA-Yonhap)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is shown in the left circle while taking a photo at a precision machine factory in Pyongyang. Kim’s younger sister, Yo-jong, is seen in the right circle. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency reported it on Jan. 16, 2015, without saying when the visit was made. (KCNA-Yonhap)
It appears that Kim Jong-un is having some eyebrow challenges:
From left to right: Kim Jong Un’s New Year’s Day speeches on Jan. 1, 2015, Jan. 1, 2014, and Jan. 1, 2013. (Photos by Reuters/Kyodo/KCNA)
Forget Sony Pictures: Now it’s Kim Jong Un’s eyebrows that have been hacked.
In a piece titled “Brow you see them,” the South China Morning Post noted North Korea’s Supreme Leader appeared at a New Year’s Day speech sans what scientists call supercilium.
“In what appeared to be a case of severe over-plucking, Kim’s brows appeared to be significantly shorter than on earlier occasions, sitting above his eyes like little dashes,” the paper wrote. [Washington Post via a reader tip]
