North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly executed 10 senior officials for offenses including graft and watching South Korean soap operas.
Bloomberg News reported the executions appear to be part of a movement to remove any influence of Kim’s uncle, Jang Song Thaek, who was executed last year.
The move seems to reflect a continuation of practices held since North Korea was founded in 1948. Kim Jong Un’s father and grandfather also executed people they perceived as a threat to their leadership.
“North Korea’s history is a history of purges,” Oh Gyeong Seob, a North Korea researcher at the Sejong Institute near Seoul, told Bloomberg. “And purges are increasing in frequency under Kim Jong Un. It’s a sign he is resorting to the politics of fear to cope with his sense of insecurity.”
The 10 officials were executed by firing squad, bringing the
total number executed this year to 50, according to The Telegraph.
Along with being accused of watching banned South Korean soap operas, the officials also faced
charges of bribery and womanizing, according to The Independent.
Television and media are strictly controlled in North Korea.
"The more people are exposed to such media the more likely they are to become disillusioned with the regime and start wanting to live differently,” a North Korean defector known as “Mr. Chung” said, according to The Independent.
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