North Korea: Pyongyang exacts the highest price for failure
It appears that North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong Un is continuing to try to consolidate his power through his country’s time-honoured tradition of purging.
In 2013, Kim had Jang Song Thaek, his uncle and the country’s second-most powerful official, killed following suspicions that Jang was plotting a coup. In April, defence minister Hyon Yong Chol was reportedly executed (with an anti-aircraft gun) after falling asleep while Kim was delivering a speech.
