- Jang Song Thaek was a mentor to Kim Jong Un and married to his aunt
- He faced allegations of corruption, drug use, gambling and womanising
- Pyongyang said Jang, 67, had generally led a 'dissolute and depraved life'
- 2,700-word statement confirms leadership saw him as a political threat
- Believed he was executed in customary North Korean way by firing squad
The uncle of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has been dragged from a military court and executed for being a 'traitor'.
Jang Song Thaek, 67, who had been considered the second most powerful official in the country and a mentor to his nephew, was killed immediately after a trial.
It is believed he was executed in the customary North Korean way by firing squad.
In a statement Pyongyang called him a 'traitor to the nation for all ages,' 'worse than a dog' and 'despicable human scum' who planned a military coup.
Execution: Jang Song Thaek, with his hands tied with a rope, is shown being dragged into a military court shortly before his execution for treason yesterday. Once powerful, he was the uncle of leader Kim Jong Un
North Korean justice: The tribunal in the capital Pyongyang which apparently ordered Jang Song Thaek's death
A man is shown watching a live TV news broadcast in Seoul Railway Station, South Korea, which showed Kim Jong Un's uncle in a military trial. The caption reads: 'North Korea Executed Jang Song Thaek after trial'
In a sharp reversal of the popular image of Jang Song Thaek as a kindly uncle guiding young leader Kim Jong Un as he consolidated power, the North's official Korean Central News Agency indicated that Jang instead saw the death of Kim's father, Kim Jong Il, in December 2011 as an opportunity to challenge his nephew and win power.
Just days ago, North Korea accused Jang of corruption, womanizing, gambling and taking drugs, and said he'd been 'eliminated' from all his posts.
But Friday's allegations, which couldn't be independently confirmed, were linked to a claim that he tried 'to overthrow the state by all sorts of intrigues and despicable methods with a wild ambition to grab the supreme power of our party and state.
In the North Korean capital, people crowded around billboards in a subway station displaying the morning paper and news of the execution.
North Korea's main newspaper Rodong Sinmun ran a headline on its website that said: 'Eternal traitor firmly punished.'
A radio broadcast of the news was piped into the subway and people sat quietly and listened as the announcer listed Jang's crimes.
Jang Song Thaek's ties to Kim were more than political: Jang was married to the leader's aunt, Kim Kyong Hui.
The 66-year-old is often credited with being the driving force behind the rise of the Supreme Leader of North Korea.
Kim Kyong-hui, who is often the only female face on official photographs of ranks of generals and party leaders, was tasked with transforming her nephew into a figurehead with a reputation for strong military tactics who is able to handle an international crisis.
Jang Song Thaek and Kim Kyong-hui met at university and married in 1972.
They have no surviving children, according to the South Korean government-run Information Centre on North Korea - their only child, a daughter, committed suicide in 2006 at the age of 29 while studying in Paris, according to South Korean media.
While Miss Kim disappeared from public view for six years after 2003, she re-emerged to a more powerful role, being made a four-star general in 2010.
She also owns the only burger restaurant in Pyongyang, where the menu offers 'minced meat and bread' rather than using the American word 'burger'.
What Jang's execution means for his wife was unclear - ABC News had earlier reported that Kim Kyong Hui was involved in the purging of her own husband, but this claim could not immediately be verified.
Frail and said to be in bad health, Kim Kyong Hui has not been seen in footage and photos of this week's proceedings.
Jang's execution also calls the future of his relatives into question - a brother-in-law who is the ambassador to Cuba and his nephew, the ambassador to Malaysia, reportedly were recalled to Pyongyang, according to South Korean officials.
Another relative, the deputy tourism minister, cancelled a trip to attend a tourism conference in Taiwan this week, Taiwanese officials told the island's state news agency, CNA.
During his two years in power, Kim Jong Un has overseen nuclear and missile tests, other high-profile purges and a barrage of threats this spring, including vows of nuclear strikes against Washington and Seou
In contrast, his father, Kim Jong Il, took a much lower public profile when he rose to power after the death of his father, Kim Il Sung, in 1994.
It's not clear what Jang's execution and Kim Jong Un's very public approach to leadership say about the future of a country notoriously difficult for outsiders to interpret.
There was no immediate word about the fate of Jang's wife, Kim Kyong Hui, the younger sister of Kim Jong Il, although some analysts believe that because she is directly related to the nation's founder, Kim Il Sung, and has been reportedly ill, she may be spared Jang's fate.
She was also seen as an important mentor to Kim Jong Un after her brother's 2011 death.
The White House said that 'if confirmed, this is another example of the extreme brutality of the North Korean regime.'
The KCNA report was unusually specific in its accusations at times
For instance, it criticized Jang for not rising and applauding his nephew's appointment to a senior position because Jang 'thought that if Kim Jong Un's base and system for leading the army were consolidated, this would lay a stumbling block in the way of grabbing the power.'
Some analysts see the public pillorying of such a senior official, and one related to the leader, as a sign of the young ruler coming into his own and solidifying his grip on power.
'Whatever problems it faced, North Korea has usually acted in a way to bolster its leaders,' said Chin Hee-gwan, a professor at South Korea's Inje University.
'By showing a little bit of a reign of terror, it's likely that Kim Jong Un's power will be further consolidated.'
But others see signs of dangerous instability and an indication that behind the scenes, Kim Jong Un's rise has not been as smooth as previously thought.
'North Korea's announcement is like an acknowledgement that Kim Jong Un's government is still in a transitional period,' said Lim Eul Chul, a North Korea expert at South Korea's Kyungnam University.
The execution could be followed by more purges, Lim predicted, but Kim Jong Un will eventually ease up in his approach to domestic affairs because he'll face a bigger crisis if he fails to revive the struggling economy and improve people's living standards.
There are fears in Seoul that the removal of Jang and his followers - two of his aides were executed last month, South Korea's National Intelligence Service said - could lead to a miscalculation or even an attack on the South.
Top South Korean presidential security and government ministers held an unscheduled meeting Friday to discuss Jang's execution and its aftermath, according to the presidential Blue House.
Seoul's Defense Ministry said the North Korean military has not shown any unusual activities and that there is not any suspicious activity at the North's nuclear test site and missile launch pads.
There are also questions about what the purge means for North Korea's relationship with its only major ally, China. Jang had been seen as the leading supporter of Chinese-style economic reforms and an important link between Pyongyang and Beijing.
Although the high-level purges over the last two years could indicate confidence, Victor Cha, a former senior White House adviser on Asia, said he sees signs of 'a lot of churn in the system.'
'If he has to go as high as purging and then executing Jang, it tells you that everything's not normal in the system,' said Cha, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington.
'When you take out Jang, you're not taking out just one person - you're taking out scores if not hundreds of other people in the system. It's got to have some ripple effect.'
North Korea has recently turned to attempts at diplomacy with South Korea and the United States. But tensions have remained high since Pyongyang's threats in March and April, which included warnings that it would restart nuclear bomb fuel production.
One resident in Pyongyang, Kim Un Song, a doctor at a hospital, said she was surprised at the news but supported the execution.
'We trust and believe only in Marshal Kim Jong Un. Anti-revolutionary elements can't shake our faith. I don't know if there are more out there, but they will never shake our faith,' she said.
'It's very good that he was executed.'
THE GIRLFRIEND: Kim Jong Un's former lover Hyon Song-wol was killed by machine gun in August.
She was killed amid claims that she had been appearing in pornographic videos. Twelve singers, musicians and dancers from two pop groups are said to have been executed on August 20.
Because Kim’s wife, Ri Sol-ju, was once a member of the same group as the executed singer, North Korea analysts suggested that she might have given her consent to the execution.
Fuelling the speculation, there have been rumours that her husband was still seeing Hyon.
A source in China, the only ally of the secretive Stalinist nation, told a South Korean newspaper that the entertainers were arrested on August 17 for violating laws on pornography.
THE FINANCIAL EXPERT : A leading North Korean financial expert was dragged before a firing squad and shot dead for ruining the country's financial affairs in 2010.
Mr Pak Nam Ki was responsible for revaluing the communist regime's currency the previous year, but his attempts to curb inflation caused nationwide misery - and leader Kim Jong Ill was not amused.
When Kim saw what 77-year-old Pak had done, he ordered the financier to be sacked from his job as chief of the communist party's planning and finance department, then put him on trial, according to reports reaching South Korea.
After being found guilty of ruining the national economy, he was taken to a military range in the capital, Pyongyang, and shot dead by a firing squad.
THE DISLOYAL CITIZEN: A North Korean man was executed by firing squad for calling a friend in South Korea on his mobile phone.
A radio station in Seoul, South Korea, said it had learned that a man identified only as Jung has been executed in 2010 after security officials raided his home and found a Chinese-manufactured mobile phone.
He was taken away and subjected to extreme torture, when he confessed that he had told a defector friend in South Korea about the harsh living conditions in the communist state.
He revealed that he had given his friend details of how people were struggling to live and had also passed on information about the price of rice.
North Korea does allow mobile phones to be used, but they have to be registered and their range is limited to Pyongyang.
However Chinese mobile phones with pre-paid cards that make international calls possible have been distributed through the black market.
But Friday's allegations, which couldn't be independently confirmed, were linked to a claim that he tried 'to overthrow the state by all sorts of intrigues and despicable methods with a wild ambition to grab the supreme power of our party and state.
Family: Shown with his powerful nephew during a military parade in February last year, Jang Song Thaek (left) was once the second most powerful man in North Korea. Some say he was seen as a threat
Together: Kim Jong Un (front centre) is followed by Jang Song Thaek (left) in December 2011 as he salutes beside the hearse carrying the body of his late father Kim Jong Il during a funeral procession in Pyongyang
Family: Jang Song-taek with his wife Kim Kyong-hui and Kim Jong-un. Miss Kim has been described as the driving force behind the Supreme Leader's rise to power. It is unclear what will happen to her now
North Korea's main newspaper Rodong Sinmun ran a headline on its website that said: 'Eternal traitor firmly punished.'
A radio broadcast of the news was piped into the subway and people sat quietly and listened as the announcer listed Jang's crimes.
Enlarge 
Generations in the making: The family tree of Kim Jong Un and his late uncle
Taken away: Jang Song Thaek (centre) being arrested during an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party in Pyongyang, North Korea, on December 8
Nowhere to be seen: Earlier this week it emerged that Jang's face had been airbrushed out of a North Korean TV documentary about Kim Jong-Un. The original clips are pictured top, and the new versions are seen bottom
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO JANG SONG THAEK'S WIFE WHO IS ALSO KIM JUNG UN'S AUNT?
The 66-year-old is often credited with being the driving force behind the rise of the Supreme Leader of North Korea.
Kim Kyong-hui, who is often the only female face on official photographs of ranks of generals and party leaders, was tasked with transforming her nephew into a figurehead with a reputation for strong military tactics who is able to handle an international crisis.
Jang Song Thaek and Kim Kyong-hui met at university and married in 1972.
They have no surviving children, according to the South Korean government-run Information Centre on North Korea - their only child, a daughter, committed suicide in 2006 at the age of 29 while studying in Paris, according to South Korean media.
While Miss Kim disappeared from public view for six years after 2003, she re-emerged to a more powerful role, being made a four-star general in 2010.
She also owns the only burger restaurant in Pyongyang, where the menu offers 'minced meat and bread' rather than using the American word 'burger'.
What Jang's execution means for his wife was unclear - ABC News had earlier reported that Kim Kyong Hui was involved in the purging of her own husband, but this claim could not immediately be verified.
Frail and said to be in bad health, Kim Kyong Hui has not been seen in footage and photos of this week's proceedings.
Jang's execution also calls the future of his relatives into question - a brother-in-law who is the ambassador to Cuba and his nephew, the ambassador to Malaysia, reportedly were recalled to Pyongyang, according to South Korean officials.
Another relative, the deputy tourism minister, cancelled a trip to attend a tourism conference in Taiwan this week, Taiwanese officials told the island's state news agency, CNA.
In contrast, his father, Kim Jong Il, took a much lower public profile when he rose to power after the death of his father, Kim Il Sung, in 1994.
It's not clear what Jang's execution and Kim Jong Un's very public approach to leadership say about the future of a country notoriously difficult for outsiders to interpret.
There was no immediate word about the fate of Jang's wife, Kim Kyong Hui, the younger sister of Kim Jong Il, although some analysts believe that because she is directly related to the nation's founder, Kim Il Sung, and has been reportedly ill, she may be spared Jang's fate.
She was also seen as an important mentor to Kim Jong Un after her brother's 2011 death.
The White House said that 'if confirmed, this is another example of the extreme brutality of the North Korean regime.'
The KCNA report was unusually specific in its accusations at times
For instance, it criticized Jang for not rising and applauding his nephew's appointment to a senior position because Jang 'thought that if Kim Jong Un's base and system for leading the army were consolidated, this would lay a stumbling block in the way of grabbing the power.'
Some analysts see the public pillorying of such a senior official, and one related to the leader, as a sign of the young ruler coming into his own and solidifying his grip on power.
'Whatever problems it faced, North Korea has usually acted in a way to bolster its leaders,' said Chin Hee-gwan, a professor at South Korea's Inje University.
'By showing a little bit of a reign of terror, it's likely that Kim Jong Un's power will be further consolidated.'
But others see signs of dangerous instability and an indication that behind the scenes, Kim Jong Un's rise has not been as smooth as previously thought.
'North Korea's announcement is like an acknowledgement that Kim Jong Un's government is still in a transitional period,' said Lim Eul Chul, a North Korea expert at South Korea's Kyungnam University.
The execution could be followed by more purges, Lim predicted, but Kim Jong Un will eventually ease up in his approach to domestic affairs because he'll face a bigger crisis if he fails to revive the struggling economy and improve people's living standards.
There are fears in Seoul that the removal of Jang and his followers - two of his aides were executed last month, South Korea's National Intelligence Service said - could lead to a miscalculation or even an attack on the South.
Top South Korean presidential security and government ministers held an unscheduled meeting Friday to discuss Jang's execution and its aftermath, according to the presidential Blue House.
Seoul's Defense Ministry said the North Korean military has not shown any unusual activities and that there is not any suspicious activity at the North's nuclear test site and missile launch pads.
Announcement: A radio broadcast of the news was piped into the subway. People sat quietly and listened as the announcer listed Jang's crimes.
News: In the North Korean capital, people crowded around billboards in a subway station displaying the morning paper and news of the execution
Media: A South Korean watches TV news showing North Korean politician Jang Song-Thaek, at Seoul station, in Seoul
International news: Television moitors displayed at the Yongsan electronic market show the news of Jang Song-Thaek's execution
Although the high-level purges over the last two years could indicate confidence, Victor Cha, a former senior White House adviser on Asia, said he sees signs of 'a lot of churn in the system.'
'If he has to go as high as purging and then executing Jang, it tells you that everything's not normal in the system,' said Cha, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington.
Summer: Kim Jong Un (right) and his uncle (left), and Choe Ryong Hae, director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army (KPA), attend a ceremony of Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum in Pyongyang in July
A few months ago: Kim Jong-Un (right), accompanied by his uncle Jang Song-Thaek (left), wave as they inspect a mass parade of the Worker-Peasant Red Guards at Kim Il-Sung Square in September
Daggers: Kim Jong Un looks at his uncle (left), during a parade in July
North Korea has recently turned to attempts at diplomacy with South Korea and the United States. But tensions have remained high since Pyongyang's threats in March and April, which included warnings that it would restart nuclear bomb fuel production.
One resident in Pyongyang, Kim Un Song, a doctor at a hospital, said she was surprised at the news but supported the execution.
'We trust and believe only in Marshal Kim Jong Un. Anti-revolutionary elements can't shake our faith. I don't know if there are more out there, but they will never shake our faith,' she said.
'It's very good that he was executed.'
Concern: Rep. Suh Sang-kee of the ruling Saenuri Party, chairman of the National Assembly intelligence committee, speaks to reporters at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea
Grave concerns: South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Eyi-do said the South Korean government has deep concerns over the recent developments in North Korea
EXECUTED BY FIRING SQUAD: HOW KIM JONG UN GETS RID OF PEOPLE WHO DO NOT FIT INTO HIS REGIME
Kim Jong Un's former lover Hyon Song-wol was killed by machine gun in August
She was killed amid claims that she had been appearing in pornographic videos. Twelve singers, musicians and dancers from two pop groups are said to have been executed on August 20.
Because Kim’s wife, Ri Sol-ju, was once a member of the same group as the executed singer, North Korea analysts suggested that she might have given her consent to the execution.
Fuelling the speculation, there have been rumours that her husband was still seeing Hyon.
A source in China, the only ally of the secretive Stalinist nation, told a South Korean newspaper that the entertainers were arrested on August 17 for violating laws on pornography.
THE FINANCIAL EXPERT : A leading North Korean financial expert was dragged before a firing squad and shot dead for ruining the country's financial affairs in 2010.
Mr Pak Nam Ki was responsible for revaluing the communist regime's currency the previous year, but his attempts to curb inflation caused nationwide misery - and leader Kim Jong Ill was not amused.
Killed: Mr Pak Nam Ki, 77, was shot dead in the capital for ruining the country's financial affairs in 2010
After being found guilty of ruining the national economy, he was taken to a military range in the capital, Pyongyang, and shot dead by a firing squad.
THE DISLOYAL CITIZEN: A North Korean man was executed by firing squad for calling a friend in South Korea on his mobile phone.
A radio station in Seoul, South Korea, said it had learned that a man identified only as Jung has been executed in 2010 after security officials raided his home and found a Chinese-manufactured mobile phone.
He was taken away and subjected to extreme torture, when he confessed that he had told a defector friend in South Korea about the harsh living conditions in the communist state.
He revealed that he had given his friend details of how people were struggling to live and had also passed on information about the price of rice.
North Korea does allow mobile phones to be used, but they have to be registered and their range is limited to Pyongyang.
However Chinese mobile phones with pre-paid cards that make international calls possible have been distributed through the black market.
THE FACTORY MANAGER: A North Korean factory boss accused of making international phone calls was executed by a firing squad in front of 150,000 people in 2007.
The manager was gunned down in a sports stadium in South Pyongan province after authorities claimed he'd installed 13 in a basement to reach the outside world, the Good Friends aid agency revealed.
And six people were also crushed to death and 34 others injured in an apparent stampede as they left after the execution, it was claimed.
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