A family execution

On December 12, in Pyongyang, according to the verdict of the military tribunal, General Chan Song Taek, ex-secretary of the Central Committee of the TPK, the ally of the late leader Kim Jong Ira, was shot from the machine gun. The current leader Kim Jong Yunu executed was brought by an uncle

The arrest of Chan Song Taek during a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the TPK. Pyongyang, December 9, 2013
Chana was arrested on December 9 during an expanded meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Korea Labor Party (TPK), which discussed only one question - “anti -party, anti -state, treacherous acts” Chan Song Taek. The arrest was shown on the North Korean TV. And after the execution of the dignitor, a message from the official North Korean agency Tsat was published: “The accused Chan formed and headed the subversive group, in order to commit a vile crime with the help of various kinds of intrigues - to overthrow the state building and seize the supreme power in our party and the country.”

All this looks like a sensation. The DPRK stopped reporting on the top of the political Olympus in the open press in the late 50s. From time to time, people noticed that this or that dignitary, who had recently appeared at all conceivable events near the great leader, suddenly disappeared, but everyone knew that it was unsafe to be interested in his fate. Only the party nomenclature sometimes read the closed letters of the Central Committee describing the crimes of one or another minister. However, the supreme leader Marshal Kim Jong -un decided to violate the tradition of Generalissimo Kim Il Sen, who was still in charge of his grandfather.

Chan Song Taek is probably the most high -ranking dignitary, repressed in the entire history of the DPRK. More recently, he was considered the chief adviser and actually a regent-Opekun under Kim Jong-un. In addition, Chan himself was a member of the ruling family: he is married to the aunt of the current North Korean ruler. Nevertheless, it was possible to predict a similar turn of events for a long time.

The sudden elevation of Kim Jong -un, unexpectedly for him, the most appointed by the heir in October 2010, meant that he did not had his own team. He has to rule the country with the help of his father advisers, most of which are already about 70. Of course, this situation creates considerable problems - especially in a Confucian country, where age largely determines the hierarchy. In addition, in the summer of 2012 it became clear: the young heir is going to quite steeply turn the steering wheel of a state ship and start reforms according to the Chinese model. In 2013, state agriculture was partially transferred to a family contract, the economic independence of enterprises was sharply expanded, and the opening of 14 special economic zones was announced.

The old guard in the party leadership took place without enthusiasm. Her argument: as a result of reforms, the inhabitants of North Korea will learn too much about the life of their neighbors in the south and, God forbid, dream of uniting a German model. On the other hand, it is impossible to always keep the system in its current state: the economy is almost not functioning, and information about the state of affairs abroad is increasingly spreading to the DPRK.

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Chan Song Taek is probably the most high -ranking dignitary, repressed in the entire history of the DPRK

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The conflict between the "old people" and the young leader became inevitable. Kim Jong -un began the attack in the spring of 2012 - with a massive cleaning of the armed forces. The North Korean army did not see a similar number of resignations and arrests at least half a century. The Ministers of Defense and the chiefs of the General Staff changed with stunning speed - over the two years of the reign of Kim Jong -un, the leadership of the Ministry of Defense was updated four times. Vice-Marshal Chwa He Hae, the military rank of which should not be misleading: the marshal, although he is the son of the Minister of Defense, a civilian, was set up.

After the military leadership was safely cleaned, the turn and the highest party-government bureaucracy occurred. The first blow was predictably inflicted on Chan Song Taek, the chief adviser Kim Jong -un in the first year of his reign. It was he who helped to establish control over the armed forces, which, however, made it especially dangerous. However, it seems that the actions of Kim Jong -un were largely dictated by his personal hostility towards the old general, the imperious and sharp man.

At first, the accusations against the disgraced dignitary were unchanged: “domestic decomposition” (drunkenness, debauchery, gambling), as well as some “anti -party, counter -revolutionary, anti -state and anti -people's actions”. And I also “tried to undermine the power of the Cabinet of Ministers in Economic Affairs” (at the head of the office of the last months there is a well -known moderate reformer, a large supporter of the receipt of Pak Pon Zhu), and also “sold precious national resources abroad at broken prices” (a clear hint of numerous transactions with China, which Chan really oversaw). The last accusation, by the way, is unlikely to cause a special delight in Beijing, the relationship with which in recent months by North Korea has already deteriorated.

It can be assumed that the removal of Chan will follow the shake of the entire bureaucratic apparatus. As a matter of fact, it has already begun: ambassadors respond from abroad, many of them were proteges of the executed general. The purposes of cleaning are clear: to establish complete control over the state and finally begin to implement a new line. But will they give the required result of the reform carried out by shot methods?

Photo: Reuters