Why Is Kim Jong-un Purging the Military?

The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) definitely has the best intelligence within North Korea because they confirmed this two months ago:

Kim Jong Un is an impatient autocrat who single-handedly decided to execute North Korean Defense Minister Hyon Yong Chol, according to Seoul’s spy agency on Tuesday.

South Korean lawmakers said National Intelligence chief Lee Byung-ho made the statements at a briefing before the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee, Yonhap reported.

Kim also was the executive decision maker behind the undeleted footage of Hyon in the weeks that followed after his disappearance.

According to Seoul’s spy chief, North Korean television continued to run past footage of Hyon under Kim’s orders.

Kim, Lee said, believed the international community could use conspicuous deletions against Pyongyang because the erasure would serve as evidence of Hyon’s execution.

South Korean newspaper Donga Ilbo reported Hyon was executed at the artillery range at Pyongyang’s Kang Kon Military Academy.

Hundreds watched the execution, according to the NIS, and Kim forced top-ranking military officers to attend.

Kim may have executed other military personnel if they were loyal to Hyon or held grievances against Kim, Lee said, according to South Korean lawmaker Shin Kyung-min.

Shin said Kim had labeled Hyon as “anti-Workers’ Party, and a counter-revolutionary.”  [UPI]

You can read the rest at the link, but according to the article Kim Jong-un is trying to weaken the power of the military in North Korea.

Here is what I think it going on.  I have said this before that I do not believe that Kim Jong-un has the absolute power that many people believe him to have.  I believe that his grandfather Kim Il-sung had absolute power, but when his son Kim Jong-il took over that the absolute power was diluted between the ruling Kim inner circle, the Worker’s Party, and the North Korean military.  These three sectors competed for power with the military ultimately becoming the most powerful bureaucracy in North Korea under Kim Jong-il.  These sectors of power in North Korea though likely ruled by consensus and when consensus could not be reached Kim Jong-il was likely the deciding vote which was heavily influenced by his backing of the North Korean military.

After Kim Jong-il’s death these sectors of North Korean power likely competed for influence again after Kim Jong-un took over.  Kim Jong-un’s uncle Jang Song-taek appeared to be trying to challenge the status quo by increasing the power of the Worker’s Party.  With the power of the Worker’s Party increasing, the military may have felt like their power was decreasing too much and took action to get rid of Jang to put the status quo back to where it was.  However, the status quo likely meant Kim Jong-un has less power than his father did after the execution of Jang and the following purge of Party officials loyal to him.

His recent purge of military officials shows that Kim Jong-un understands this and is trying to re-establish absolute power for himself like his grandfather had.  His grandfather had to rely on a number of purges to gain the power he had.  Kim Jong-un first focused on purging the Worker’s Party of people that he perceived as a possible challenge to his authority.  Now he is focusing on the North Korean military.  After the military is purged that leaves Kim and his family inner circle as the biggest power brokers in North Korea.  It is a dangerous game he is playing, but we will see over the years how well it works.