North Korea's brutal purge and execution of KimJong-un's uncle has raised fears of instability in a state with a nuclear weapons programme and a willingness to ratchet up regional tensions.
Jang Song-thaek was accused of everything from plotting a coup to instigating disastrous currency reforms and dishing out pornography in a report issued by the official news agency KCNA early on Friday morning. It denounced him as "worse than a dog" and "despicable human scum".
The Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed him handcuffed and held by uniformed guards in the courtroom of the special military tribunal that found him guilty of treason.
Experts were divided on whether his violent end indicated that Kim was consolidating his power ruthlessly – or that powerful groups within the elite were jockeying for power.
Before his ousting Jang was one of the North's most powerful figures and was regarded as a mentor to the youthful leader. But even his marriage to Kim's aunt – whose situation remains unclear – was not enough to save his life.
The culmination of Jang's fall from power, first heralded by the announcement that he had been stripped of his posts and expelled from the Workers' party, was announced in thundering, vitriolic state media reports in unprecedented fashion.
In Pyongyang, people crowded around subway station billboards displaying the morning paper and news of the execution, Associated Press reported. Others sat quietly and listened as a radio broadcast piped into the subway listed Jang's crimes.
Source: theguardian
