Socialism in Action
One of South
Korea's largest newspapers has reported that North Korea executed around 80
people in early November, some for such prohibited activities as viewing South
Korean television shows and possessing Bibles. According to South Korea's daily JoongAng newspaper,
the coordinated executions occurred in seven North Korean cities, with an
estimated ten people killed at each locale.
An unidentified source reported that officials in the
port city of Wonsan, on North Korea's eastern coast, gathered more than ten
thousand residents into a local stadium and forced them to watch the firing
squad executions. The source, who reportedly is familiar with North Korean
internal affairs, said victims were lashed to poles, hooded, and then mowed
down with machine gun fire. “I heard from the residents that they watched in
terror as the corpses were so riddled by machine-gun fire that they were hard
to identify afterwards,” the source told the newspaper.
“The Wonsan victims were mostly charged with watching
or illegally trafficking South Korean videos, being involved in prostitution,
or being in possession of a Bible,” reported the JoongAng newspaper. “Accomplices or relatives
of the executed people who were implicated in their alleged crimes were sent to
prison camps. The reason for the executions wasn’t immediately clear. They seem
to have occurred in cities that are centers of economic development, according
to a government official.”
While the newspaper cited only one source, other
Korean news agencies appeared to corroborate the executions.
Those with knowledge of North Korea's inner workings
speculated the executions were intended to intimidate workers who may be
tempted by Western influence. One North Korean defector told Agence France-Presse that “the
regime is obviously afraid of potential changes in people's mind-sets and is
preemptively trying to scare people off.”
The Los
Angeles Times noted that if
the mass executions were confirmed, they would represent “the most brutal step
known to have been taken by the country's 30-year-old leader, Kim Jong Un, who
came to power two years ago after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il.”
In August it was reported that Kim had ordered the
executions of up to a dozen members of two North Korean musical groups,
including a former girlfriend. The groups had allegedly filmed homemade
pornography in hopes of selling it to make money. Kim's wife had reportedly
been a member of one of the groups, and, according to the Los Angeles Times,
a South Korean official had been told by officials in the North that an
investigation into the executions of the musicians “suggested Kim's wife had
been involved in similar prohibited activities. The source suggested that the
entertainers were executed to prevent disparaging accounts from circulating
about the first lady's behavior.”
The JoongAng daily newspaper noted that no
executions occurred in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, “where Kim relies
on the support of the country’s elite class. He continues to build luxury and
recreational facilities in the capital, such as a new water park.” A North
Korean defector and analyst at the World North Korea Research Center was quoted
by the paper as speculating that “it is the beginning of the Kim Jong-Un-style
of governance, buying the favor of the privileged class of North Korea in
Pyongyang.”
Commenting on the Kim Jong Un regime, Suzanne Scholte
of human rights group Defense Forum Foundation told the Christian
Post that the
recent executions “are a reflection of two things at work. First, unlike his
father, Kim Jong-Il, Kim Jong Un has had to work aggressively to consolidate power
once his father died. Remember that Kim Il Song had prepared for the transition
to his son, Kim Jong-Il and he was already in major leadership roles when Kim
Il Song died.”
She added that the coordinated violence is also
reflective “of a regime that is increasingly fearful of its own people and has
to send a powerful, brutal message by doing high profile public executions.”
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