2014/November/07
Written by ISHIMARU Jiro, Editor in Chief, Rimjin-gang
A North Korean reporting partner working for ASIAPRESS North Korea Reporting Team told us, via phone conversation, that it is possible that two sets of executions took place in Pyongyang in early October. According to the information, the first executions were carried out on 6 October in the Ganggun Military Cadet Academy training field. Three managers and seven subordinate officers in the Party Central of Korean Workers' Party (KWP) are said to have been executed by firing squad. High-ranking officials from the Party Central, Ministry of People's Safety (police) and the State Security Department (secret police - intelligence service) were reportedly summoned to attend the executions.
"The reason for the executions are said to have been down to 'neglect on the job' during projects assigned by Kim Jong-un. Additionally, the condemned were further accused of forming a secret organization."
Our reporting partner explained that news of the executions came down from a high-ranking official at the regional branch of the State Security Department.
The second set of executions allegedly took place on October 11, in the same location. On this occasion two Party cadres were executed by firing squad. This time the accused were suspected of having been in collusion with Jang Song-taek, who was executed last December accused of counterrevolutionary conspiracies. It is not confirmed yet, but it is said that one of the executed on this day was a manager at the Party Central, and the other was a Responsible Secretary of Haeju, the main city of South Hwanghae Province. A Responsible Secretary is the head of each KWP branche.
Prior to the second executions, officials from the Party and the security institutions were also called to attend watch the executions in person. It is strongly presumed that the executions were calculated to set an example for other ranking officials belonging to organs and institutions of the government.
Our reporting partner added that machine guns are said to have been used for the executions.
Since the purge of Jang Song-taek, former number two in the state leadership, a considerable number of ranked officials and persons alleged to have been affiliated with Jang have been executed, expelled or displaced under the North Korean guilt-by-association system. These purges continued at least until this spring (2014), however, no significant information on these purges have been heard since then.
Though the details are not yet clear enough to offer a full picture of what exactly is going on inside Kim Jong-un's regime, there is a possibility that large-scale movements have begun inside the core of the state power.
In North Korea, since last year, the state has been working overtime towards the establishment of an absolute dictatorship system. The "Ten Great Principles for the establishment of a monolithic leadership system of the KWP", the supreme dictates of the DPRK, were recently revised for the first time in 39 years, and adopted by the Kim Jong-un regime. >>>
Every citizen is required to unconditionally demonstrate their allegiance to the guidance of Kim Jong-un by following these instructions without question. If the recent information to emerge surrounding the October executions is correct, it could be considered that the Party Central is cracking down hard, showing no mercy to those wandering outside the boundaries of the Party commands.
*** Rimjin-gang
PROFILE; ISHIMARU Jiro
* Editor's notes on North Korean reporters
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