{"id":1991,"date":"2016-01-25T16:27:31","date_gmt":"2016-01-25T07:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.01.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang-2\/2016\/01\/report\/20160125_jang-song-thaek-purge-reason\/"},"modified":"2018-08-24T18:21:32","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T09:21:32","slug":"20160125_jang-song-thaek-purge-reason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2016\/01\/news\/20160125_jang-song-thaek-purge-reason\/","title":{"rendered":"Jang Song-thaek\u2019s Ambition Reflected on Photos (part1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Analysis of North Korean Media
<\/span><\/strong>ISHIMARU Jiro, editor of\u00a0Rimjin-gang,
Paek Chang-ryong, reporter<\/em><\/p>\n

The official media in North Korea such as Rodong Shinmun, Chosun Choongang TV, and Chosun Choongang Press reports and broadcasts Kim Jong-il or Kim Jong-un\u2019s visit to military bases or industrial facilities everyday.<\/p>\n

It is the indicative barometer to know the ranks among the power elites in North Korea by counting the numbers of accompanying the leader, the sequence of introducing them and their titles. If disappeared from the photos of entourage, it may suggest something unusual happened to that figure.<\/p>\n

There have been number of speculative news about who would be the patron or the counselor by analyzing the photos of figures around Kim Jong-un after the death of Kim Jong-il. Paek Chang-ryong, an editing staff of Rimjin-gang, has noticed \u201cunusual changes\u201d in the regime through analyzing the photos of entourage of Kim Jong-un from one year ago before the purge of Jang Song-thaek. He explains that Jang Sung-teak\u2019s manner was far beyond the common sense of Kim Il-sung\/Kim Jong-il era, which might imply subtle change in the power structure of the regime.<\/p>\n

The followings are photo analyses by Paek;<\/p>\n

\"Chang

PHOTO 1<\/strong> Jang Song-thaek is standing in a dignified manner beside Kim Jong-un who is visiting the training field of the mounted company under the direct control of the 534 troops. A number of videos or photos of the day showed that Kim Jong-un and Jang Song-thaek rode horses along with Jang\u2019s wife Kim Kyung-hee or Kim\u2019s sister Kim Yeo-jung. Jang could be viewed as a major figure in the sacred royal family through the footage showing \u201ca day of horse riding by the royal family.\u201d (Quoted from November 19, 2012 of Chosun Choongang Press)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

I watched his behavior or manner which appeared on the North Korean official media before his purge on December 2013. I exclaimed \u201cthere is no tension at all!\u201d\u201cwill he be all right with his rude behavior?\u201d As I check North Korean media everyday, I have been shocked several times by Jang\u2019s behavior and manner in the pictures of Rodong Shinmun and Chosun Choongang TV news.<\/p>\n

The thought of \u201cunusual incident\u201d struck my head. The most distinctive event was <the picture 1> in Rodong Shinmun at the timing of less than one year after the death of Kim Jong-il. As a person born and educated in North Korea, I have never imagined that any aide could be so relaxed with smile enough to direct with his fingers and fold hands in his back in front of the top leader. I was really shocked by \u201chis impiety.\u201d<\/p>\n

The officials in the picture behind those two must of have had complicated feelings. Some might have weighed upon which rope they should have grasped seeing Jang\u2019s impious manner without fear. Others might have felt jealousy and wariness by his sudden rise.<\/p>\n

It might be unpleasant thing to Kim Jong-un that the foreign media and the North Koreans watched Jang\u2019s arrogant look. The official media usually serve for the idolization of the top leader. It could damage the image of Kim Jong-un to appear on the media with his uncle so often, which might have implied that the new leader needed to have \u201ccounselor,\u201d or \u201cpatron\u201d because of his lack of leadership.<\/p>\n

The media provided the evidence amid the gossip that the new ruler was a \u201cnovice.\u201d<\/p>\n

It can tell at a glance that Jang\u2019s attitude has changed so drastically when compared with his polite manner in front of Kim Jong-il.<\/p>\n

\"Chang

PHOTO 2<\/strong> Jang Song-thaek with tense look and polite attitude before Kim Jong-il. Kim Jong-un is in the centre. (Quoted from October 26, 2010 of Chosun Choongang Press)<\/p><\/div>\n

In <Photo 2> Jang is looking at Kim Jong-il with his hands grasping a memo pad. He seems ready to write down every words of Kim Jong-il. Tension and courtesy prevail. This is a standard attitude of the aides toward Kim Jong-il. There should not be any difference in the attitude from other officials even if he was the husband of Kim Jong-il\u2019s younger sister and one of the power men in the regime.<\/p>\n

\"The

PHOTO 3 & 4<\/strong> The carelessness and scorn on his nephew Kim Jong-un might have brought the impious manner to Jang Song-thaek. The conference was held on January 28, 2013. (Quoted from ChosunChoongang TV)<\/p><\/div>\n

<Photo 3 & 4> are shocking too. This is a still frame of TV airing the 4th cell secretaries\u2019 conference of the Worker\u2019s Party in January 2013 where Kim Jong-un also attended and gave a speech. Jang sits skewed resting his arms on the armrest (photo3) and even turns his head as if he got bored during Kim\u2019s speech.<photo4><\/p>\n

North Koreans regard that attitude as \u201cvery rude.\u201d I have never seen any person sitting like that in the official conference under the top leader\u2019s presence while I had been in North Korea. It is required to show courteous manner to the ruler with the heart of the highest respect, which is common sense behavior, regardless of the ranks.<\/p>\n

In the video, all of them in the conference must stand still when required to stand and they must look straight when asked to be sit. But Jang has such an attitude as to ignore Kim Jong-un. I felt that Jang would be severely attacked by his impiousness when I saw that video on the internet. Some of the North Korean people must also have been shocked while watching this on TV.<\/p>\n

*** Rimjin-gang<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

(part2)<\/a><\/span><\/h2>\n

\"Rimjingang_banner001\"<\/a>*\u00a0Editor\u2019s notes on North Korean reporters<\/a>
<\/a>ALL REPORTS >>><\/a> <\/strong><\/span>
ARCHIVE(pdf) >><\/a><\/span>
DPRK MAP >><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n


<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Analysis of North Korean Media ISHIMARU Jiro, editor of\u00a0Rimjin-gang, Paek Chang-ryong, reporter The official media in No\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[7,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1991"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}