PLA 39th Army Group maneuvering close to North Korean Border

chuck731 said:

This has to be physical fitness or wilderness acclimation training. It can't be combat training.

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It's survival training, learning how to make due with the elements and surroundings to keep you alive to continue with your mission. Making make shift shelters and igloos helps you to retain heat and keeps the snarling cold wind away. Plus you have to do it in a way to keep the light from your camp fire less visible from enemy scouts as well.

TerraN_EmpirE said:

Three generations Sol. Its said that when you are ruled by the rulers of NK as to have offended the people of North Korea. You, your sons and daughters and there children are all ostracized.
its a example being made.
you kill the individual to clear your way to power. You kill there family to eliminate any memory of there injustice. You exile there children to hard labor to silence there vengeance. You keep there grandchildren under the lash to make them docile. So the forth generation is allowed to feel indebted to the state and your mercy.

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What is most unusual here is that the blood relatives of Jang, including his grandchildren, were killed. Not exiled or put into labor camps, but executed. That is not just about silencing vengeance or making them docile. To me, that smacks of dynastic mentality and a desire to remove any potential candidate around which a rebellion can be centered.

Exactly right. What we have is a Unique situation. We have Kim Jung UN, the youngest son of the dictator who was only made prince to the thrown a little over a year before Kim Jong Il died. Has no real grooming for the post but obviously has ambition. His power base is unstable. Normally to rule one has to play the factions of power against each other. But those factions can also play back, especially when the would be king is immature.
Because of his uncle's high position, blood line and decades of being a major factor in the NK leadership its likely that his family also had potential powers of there own. Nepotism is quite popular in every government. So when the decision was made to end the life of his uncle young Kim decided to act almost like a Shakespearean villain and purge the whole blood line. I suspect that this is however a drop in the bucket for this North Korean tragedy and if we could look inside would find far more political disappearances and executions. The only real reason this is head is due to his high level.

TerraN_EmpirE said:

Three generations Sol. Its said that when you are ruled by the rulers of NK as to have offended the people of North Korea. You, your sons and daughters and there children are all ostracized.
its a example being made.
you kill the individual to clear your way to power. You kill there family to eliminate any memory of there injustice. You exile there children to hard labor to silence there vengeance. You keep there grandchildren under the lash to make them docile. So the forth generation is allowed to feel indebted to the state and your mercy.

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It's more likely the 4th generation would look for opportunities to return the favor.

Blackstone said:

It's more likely the 4th generation would look for opportunities to return the favor.

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In this case, with the grandchildren actually all being killed...it is almost a sure thing.

I see a really ugly end for this nasty little fart. Some cousin, or in-law will find a way to deliver a payback...even if it take 15-20 years.

solarz said:

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It's really unreal that in this day and age, this kind of purge would occur. This is something that happens in Imperial China, not in the 21st century!

I think the fact that Kim felt the need to go to these lengths show that there is significant factional support for Jang. I doubt that killing Jang's blood relatives will quiet the dissent. I think we're about to see some political upheavals in NK...

Furthermore, this incident proves that Kim has no intention whatsoever of modernizing North Korea. Can you imagine a modernized nation tolerating that kind of blood purge?

I recently read some articles from a Chinese source about Chinese businesses planning to invest in North Korea. Their line of thinking was that they had the opportunity to make as much money from NK reforms as others did from Chinese reforms.

I think Kim's actions have proved that that line of thinking is just a pipe dream. As long as the Kim dynasty rules, there will not be any kind of reforms in North Korea.

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We have to be very careful believing stories like this. Its all based on unconfirmed reports from anonymous sources in China mainly from the South Korean media. We don't believe everything that the media says about China so why should we believe what they say about North Korea. There was also the story about Kim Jung Un's uncle being tear to pieces by 120 hungry dogs that later on turns out to be nothing more than a rumor on Sino Weibo. We have also been hearing reports that Kim Jong Un's ex-girlfriend was executed for making a porn tape with the rest of her orchestra while having several bible's in their possession. You can choose to believe these things or not.

BTW this is Kim Jong Un's ex-girlfriend Hyon Song-wol in the MV for her 2005 hit 'A Girl In The Saddle Of A Steed'. Nice catchy tune and nice girl as well.

[video=youtube;v5tkXgw2OMY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5tkXgw2OMY[/video]

Franklin said:

We have to be very careful believing stories like this. Its all based on unconfirmed reports from anonymous sources in China mainly from the South Korean media. We don't believe everything that the media says about China so why should we believe what they say about North Korea. There was also the story about Kim Jung Un's uncle being tear to pieces by 120 hungry dogs that later on turns out to be nothing more than a rumor on Sino Weibo. We have also been hearing reports that Kim Jong Un's ex-girlfriend was executed for making a porn tape with the rest of her orchestra while having several bible's in their possession. You can choose to believe these things or not.

BTW this is Kim Jong Un's ex-girlfriend Hyon Song-wol in the MV for her 2005 hit 'A Girl In The Saddle Of A Steed'. Nice catchy tune and nice girl as well.

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SK news first broke the story about Jang's execution, and later NK confirmed it as well. That indicates a pretty high reliability.

solarz said:

SK news first broke the story about Jang's execution, and later NK confirmed it as well. That indicates a pretty high reliability.

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I don't dispute the execution of the uncle. But the story about the dogs was clearly false and the stories about the ex-girlfriend and his cousins, nephews and nieces, you just have to make what you want out of it.

Franklin said:

I don't dispute the execution of the uncle. But the story about the dogs was clearly false and the stories about the ex-girlfriend and his cousins, nephews and nieces, you just have to make what you want out of it.

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You said it yourself, the story about dogs was just a rumor on Chinese Weibo, so how does it make sense to undermine SK media over that story?

As for the ex-girlfriend's story, the fact that the girl, a popular singer, has not been seen since lends pretty strong credence to the story that she was executed.

the Hungry Dogs was a bit to "poetic" for North Korea. We know however there preferred method for killing high level "Traitors" is normally military firepower. in October of 2012 it was reported that a General of the North Korean army was executed for drinking during the official morning period of Kim Sung il. the method? he was shot with a mortar shell.