View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994
|
Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 3:03 pm Post subject: Kim Jong-Un's uncle executed |
|
|
AP is reporting (late Thursday afternoon) that Jang Song-Thaek has been executed.
Some analysts see the purge as a sign of Kim Jong Un's growing confidence, but there has also been fear in Seoul that the removal of such an important part of the North's government — seen by outsiders as the leading supporter of Chinese-style economic reforms — could create dangerous instability or lead to a miscalculation or attack on the South.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/12/jang-song-thaek-executed_n_4435294.html
I wonder if they obliterated him with a mortar.
Must be a lot of very nervous Norks in the upper reaches of the government about now. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
falco

Joined: 26 Nov 2005
|
Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2013 8:08 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Been following this one on DailyNK - www.dailynk.com/english/index.php
Not only was he publicly arrested and executed (a first for NK), but all past traces of Jang are being erased from all forms of media.
Yeah, I would NOT like to be a past associate of Jang in NK right now....lol |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Steelrails

Joined: 12 Mar 2009 Location: Earth, Solar System
|
Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2013 11:28 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I'm starting to think that for North Korean insight, we should just listen to people who write mafia novels. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
falco

Joined: 26 Nov 2005
|
Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 6:17 am Post subject: |
|
|
Actually, your mafia analogy is probably much more accurate than a lot of the so-called 'experts' who keep referring to it as a communist state. Its about as communist as my left testicle.
The mafia/crime syndicate comparison is VERY similar to the power structure currently in place in NK. You have the crime family (the extended Kim clan), whose main livelihood is narcotics and counterfeit currency, with the Godfather himself (KJE) sitting at the top. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Leon
Joined: 31 May 2010
|
Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 6:26 am Post subject: |
|
|
I just wrote a paper about North Korea's criminal activities. It's a criminal state, with about 20-30% (no one is exactly sure) of income from crime. I don't think many actual experts are stressing the communist thing anymore. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Leslie Cheswyck

Joined: 31 May 2003 Location: University of Western Chile
|
|
Back to top |
|
 |
bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
|
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 9:04 am Post subject: |
|
|
Leon wrote: |
I just wrote a paper about North Korea's criminal activities. It's a criminal state, with about 20-30% (no one is exactly sure) of income from crime. I don't think many actual experts are stressing the communist thing anymore. |
How do they come up with that estimate? And I'm surprised it isn't higher in fact. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Leon
Joined: 31 May 2010
|
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 10:29 am Post subject: |
|
|
bucheon bum wrote: |
Leon wrote: |
I just wrote a paper about North Korea's criminal activities. It's a criminal state, with about 20-30% (no one is exactly sure) of income from crime. I don't think many actual experts are stressing the communist thing anymore. |
How do they come up with that estimate? And I'm surprised it isn't higher in fact. |
It's like alchemy. Anyways, whenever credible people give you these estimates it is always prefaced by qualifiers like it's our best estimate, or we think that...
It's a mix of high level defectors, looking at how much they make through legitimate methods vrs. how much they spend, how large the seizures are of drugs, counterfeit stuff, etc. The current estimate is that they make between $500 million to $1 billion, just to show you how wide the variance is.
For those who are interested in this stuff, here is the links to part 1 and 2 of the paper I wrote about North Korean crime. I will post the third part later.
Part 1
http://smallcrowdedworld.com/2013/12/13/north-korean-illicit-activites-the-bureacracy-of-criminal-patronage-part-1/
Part 2
http://smallcrowdedworld.com/2013/12/16/north-korean-illicit-activities-the-bureaucracy-of-criminal-patronage-part-2/ |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
|
Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 7:14 am Post subject: |
|
|
falco wrote: |
Actually, your mafia analogy is probably much more accurate than a lot of the so-called 'experts' who keep referring to it as a communist state. Its about as communist as my left testicle.
The mafia/crime syndicate comparison is VERY similar to the power structure currently in place in NK. You have the crime family (the extended Kim clan), whose main livelihood is narcotics and counterfeit currency, with the Godfather himself (KJE) sitting at the top. |
Hmm I was wondering what Steelrails was talking about. A very good analysis on Dave's here, a bit of a rare find.
Last edited by young_clinton on Thu Dec 19, 2013 7:20 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
|
Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 7:18 am Post subject: |
|
|
Leon wrote: |
I just wrote a paper about North Korea's criminal activities. It's a criminal state, with about 20-30% (no one is exactly sure) of income from crime. I don't think many actual experts are stressing the communist thing anymore. |
All of it going to the Kim's and his benefactors. It's time for this state to go. Maybe the communist party in China will follow it. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
|