A new report from Yonhap a news agency in South Korea claims that after Kim Jong Un, the dictator of North Korea executed his uncle in December, he purged the remaining relatives of the uncle by executing them all, including children. The report has yet to be confirmed and likely will be difficult to do since North Korea is such a secretive nation.
If the killings can ever be confirmed, it will suggest that the brutality of Kim far exceeds that of his, who preceded him as leader of the country.
The move, if true, also reveals the fear Kim has of opposition, said a North Korean expert at a South Korea university.
Yonhap cited multiple un-named sources that said Kim had ordered the executions. The killings are said to have been carried out days after he executed his uncle Jang Song Thaek on December 12. Thaek was the husband of one of Kim’s aunts, the daughter of the late Kim II Sung, the founding father of the regime.
The removal of Thaek surprised many watchers of North Korea as he had been considered second in power of the repressive, isolated nation.
One source told the South Korean news agency that the killings of the relatives of Thaek means there will not be any traces left of him. The execution of Thaek and his people includes his relatives as well as officials of lower levels in the government.
Yonhap said the relatives that had been executed included Jang Kye-sun, who was Thaek’s sister and Jon Yong-jin, who was the Ambassador to Cuba from North Korea and her husband.
In addition, the report said the Jang Yong-chol the Ambassador to Malaysia and Jang Song Thaek a nephew and two sons of Jang Yong-chol were also executed.
All were recalled during the early part of December to Pyongyang. Other sources told Yonhap that daughters, sons and grandchildren had also been executed.
Some relatives through marriage were allegedly banished to villages to live in remote areas of the country.
Defectors from North Korea have often reported that the country’s regime punishes entire nuclear and extended families due to crimes allegedly carried out by a family member.