Remember the good old days, when North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il was just the right combination of diminutive, bumbling and evil to make the country at once problematic yet adorable? Well, Jong-il’s son and recently-ascended heir to the North Korean throne, Kim Jong-un, seems hellbent on making sure North Koreans are the go-to Hollywood antagonists for the next 20 years’ worth of action movies, with unpredictable and combative behavior towards the international community and human rights violations far more brazen and horrific than even his notoriously unpredictable father dared.
Case in point: Several unnamed sources have come forward to alert the international press that the young North Korean leader has gone ahead with the “purging” of his uncle Jang Song Thaek’s entire extended family, just weeks after the young Kim had Jang Song Thaek himself executed under the possibly bogus accusations that he harbored “traitorous” intentions.
In a move seemingly lifted from the pages of George R.R. Martin’s murder-centric Game of Thrones series, Kim Jong-un apparently had Jang Song Thaek’s sister and her husband, a nephew, sons, daughters and grandchildren dragged from their homes and killed; although sources say that those who married into the family were spared execution and instead ordered into exile.
Purging entire families of condemned traitors was a not-so-uncommon practice way back when people thought animal bones told the future, but obviously the practice is highly frowned upon by the modern international community.
It’s important to note, however, that because of North Korea’s extremely secretive nature, all kinds of fanciful stories make the media rounds from time to time only to be proven untrue. We’re hoping that this is just another case of rumor and speculation gone wild, but if it pans out, we’re anxious to hear what basketball star-cum-Kim Jong-un’s best buddy Dennis Rodman has to say on the matter…
Source: Itai News