The report doesn’t say whether the changes were made after or before the recent cross border incident that led to a negotiated settlement between the North and the South. If these changes were made afterwards maybe Kim Jong-un was not aware of the operation to plant landmines on the southern side of the DMZ? It seems unlikely to me though because that would be something pretty audacious for a military commander to think he could get away with doing something like that without consulting the regime inner circle first:
Kim Jong Un, the querulous North Korean leader, said the recent standoff with South Korea was resolved not through negotiation but “thanks to the tremendous military muscle” of the country’s nuclear weapons.
Some analysts have suggested that Pyongyang’s recent eagerness to hold talks with Seoul could be a sign of domestic vulnerability for Kim, whose official titles include first chairman of the National Defense Commission and supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army.
But according to North Korea’s version of events, last weekend’s standoff with South Korea was a sign of the former’s strength.
“We protected the dignity and sovereignty of the country, the gains of the revolution and the happiness of the people by our own efforts amid the tempest of the history without anybody’s support and sympathy,” Kim told officials at a meeting to analyze and review the “revolutionary measures” the regime had taken over the past week, according to the country’s official Korean Central News Agency.
The news report, published Friday, also said that the 30-something leader had dismissed some members of the Central Military Commission, which is responsible for the Korean Workers’ Party’s military policies, and appointed new ones. But it did not say which officials had been replaced. The dismissals come after an extended period of sometimes-brutal personnel changes in North Korea, notably Kim’s execution of his defense minister this year. [Stars and Stripes]
Sounds like another news item that Park Sang-hak and his team should send across the DMZ for North Korean citizens to read about:
Two satellite images were compared to produce the analysis on Kim Jong Un’s Residence No. 15: the first from Jan. 14 and the second from May 20 show the progress on the roof and the garden. Photo by Yonhap
An extravagant mansion for former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il that cost Pyongyang tens of millions of dollars to build in 2010 has been torn down, and new construction is underway, according to satellite images from May.
The No. 15 Official Residence where Kim Jong Un‘s mother, Ko Young Hee, once lived also is the childhood home of the current North Korean leader.
Curtis Melvin of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, who used the satellite imagery in his analysis, told Radio Free Asia the roof on the north side of the building has been torn down and a landscaping project has begun in a garden section of the compound, South Korean newspaper Donga Ilbo reported.
Two satellite images were compared to produce the analysis: the first from Jan. 14 and the second from May 20 show the progress on the roof and the garden.
The residence cost tens of millions of dollars to build five years ago, and roads and railways for the former leader’s exclusive use also were built. Underground tunnels for electric trains are connected to office buildings in the compound. [UPI]
You can read more at the link, but you have to love the power that Google Earth provides average citizens to note things like this.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C) and Ri Sol-ju (L) applaud as they watch an art performance given by the State Merited Chorus to mark the 62nd anniversary on July 27 of the Armistice Agreement that effectively ended the 1950-53 Korean War, in this image taken from the Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station on Aug. 4, 2015. The report did not mention when the meeting was held. (Yonhap)
Apparently Kim Jong-un does not like to be reminded that he is a young leader:
Former North Korean Defense Minister Hyon Yong Chol often referred to Kim Jong Un as a “young person,” and made other remarks that factored into the North Korea’s leader’s decision to eliminate Hyon. Photo by Rodong Sinmun/Yonhap
Former North Korean Defense Minister Hyon Yong Chol was executed for making disparaging remarks about Kim Jong Un, and the North Korean leader poses a greater threat than his father to South Korea, an analyst said Wednesday.
Chung Sung-jang, a researcher at South Korea’s Sejong Institute said intelligence gathered from a defector indicated the purged Hyon often referred to Kim as a “young person,” Yonhap reported.
Hyon also held several other grievances toward Kim and had criticized him for neglecting his duties, according to a Seoul spy agency report in May.
Hyon’s complaints eventually reached Kim, and they factored into the North Korean leader’s decision to eliminate his defense minister.
But Kim’s purge of Hyon was not an impromptu gesture that emerged from a personal vendetta, South Korean outlet Newsis reported.
According to Chung’s analysis, Hyon’s execution is part of Kim’s larger strategy of reducing a bloated military elite, a plan that includes the ongoing personnel changes and demotions taking place within the elite ranks of North Korea’s military. [UPI]
You can read more at the link, but as always keep in mind that this analysis is based on defector testimony which is not always reliable.
It looks like there is an update to the cult of personality going on in North Korea:
In North Korea, there’s no escaping the Kim family.
“Eternal President” Kim Il Sung continues to reign — according to North Korean lore — 21 years after his death. His son, “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il, died in 2011 but lies in state with his father in a huge mausoleum the size of Buckingham Palace on the outskirts of Pyongyang. And the grandson, “Great Successor” Kim Jong Un, is making sure none of his subjects forget about the family line — by strengthening the bizarre personality cult that the family has perpetuated during the past 60 years.
The latest outlet for Kimism: new statues. The regime has been tearing down statues of Kim Il Sung around the country — an act that must be require all sorts of hoopla since it’s a treasonous offense to even place a newspaper with a photo of one of the Kims face down — and replacing them with huge new statues of Kim Senior and Kim Junior.
“This looks like part of Kim Jong Un’s plan to solidify his hereditary succession, carry on his father’s mantle,” says Curtis Melvin, a North Korea researcher at the U.S.-Korea Institute at SAIS, Johns Hopkins, who has studied the country’s geography extensively using satellite imagery. He has noted the steady replacement of the statues over time, thanks to his remarkable knowledge of the country through Google Earth. [Washington Post]
This photo published in the North’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivering a congratulatory address during a national meeting of veterans in Pyongyang on July 25, 2015. (Yonhap)
It appears that Kim Jong-un’s plane may have crashed near Wonsan, but Kim was not on the plane which makes me wonder who was?
Cessna 172 Skyhawk, the type of plane that flies Kim Jong-un around North Korea.
A small North Korean plane, the same type of plane used by leader Kim Jong-un, has crashed, an official said Thursday.
The Cessna went down near the eastern port city of Wonsan, home to Kim’s special villa, on July 15, said the South Korean official familiar with the issue.
The crash was confirmed with intelligence assets of South Korea and the U.S., she said, without elaborating on the assets or the Cessna model.
She did not provide any further details of whether there were any casualties of those who were on board the doomed flight.
Kim was apparently not on board the ill-fated plane. On July 15, North Korea’s state television aired footage of Kim taking photos with participants of an ambassadors meeting in Pyongyang.
On Sunday, Kim cast a ballot in the elections to select deputies to local assemblies, which were held for the first time in four years, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea’s state media remained silent on the accident. [Yonhap]
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.
