Slashdot Mirror
North Korea Erases Executed Official From the Internet
itwbennett writes "The North Korean state propaganda machine has edited and deleted hundreds of news articles that mention Jang Song Thaek, the former top government and party official and uncle to leader Kim Jong Un, who was executed Thursday. Earlier this week, Jang was arrested in front of hundreds of senior members of the ruling Worker's Party of Korea and denounced for numerous alleged acts against the state and Kim Jong Un. From arrest to trial to death took only four days and the unprecedented fall from grace is widely being interpreted as an attempt by Kim Jong Un to keep officials loyal and scared."
He knows that you and everybody else knows the charges were false
I'm with you on everything in your post but this. Were they false?
Oh, yes, I am pretty sure they were false. And that the uncle was guilty of a great many things, but not those he were charged with.
Kim Jong-Un's point wasn't to get him convicted for things he did - the point was to get him convicted, killed and erased on a whim. For that to be truly effective, Kim would need charges that were blatantly false, and some that weren't even against any laws. Which is exactly what he appears to have done.
It's a truly despicable Machiavellan ploy. The consolation is that few excessively ruthless leaders tend to rule for very long.