China-Japan-Koreas |
Kim Jong-il's Widow Sent to Prison Camp |
2016-08-01 |
![]() The last straw was apparently the arrogant attitude of her younger brother Kim Kyun. "Kim Kyun acted high-handedly and tyrannically as his sister was Kim Jong-il's favorite after Kim Kyun was appointed first vice president of Kim Il-sung University in February 2011 but abruptly resigned from his post in October 2013. Quoting another source, RFA said Kim Ok was always bound to be purged after Kim Ok studied piano at Pyongyang University of Music and Dance and became a secretary to Kim Jong-il in 1980. She was seen on several occasions with |
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Pudgy's ex-lover executed by firing squad | ||||||||
2013-08-29 | ||||||||
Hyon Song-wol, a singer, rumoured to be a former lover of the North Korean leader, is said to have been arrested on Aug 17 with 11 others for violating laws against pornography.
"They were executed with machine guns while the key members of the Hyon's band was responsible for a string of patriotic hits in North Korea, including The 12 who were executed were singers, musicians or dancers with the Hyon's band, the
His father, Kim Jong-il, did not approve of the relationship and ordered him to break it off.
Kim Chol was reportedly executed for drinking and carousing during the official mourning period after Kim Jong-il's death. On the explicit orders of An expert on North Korean affairs believes the singer was executed for "political reasons."
"There is a political reason behind this," he said, suggesting that the groups may have been leaning towards a rival faction in Pyongyang's shadowy political world. "Or, as Kim's wife once belonged to the same group, it is possible that these executions are more about Kim's wife," Professor Shigemura added.
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China-Japan-Koreas |
Who Runs N. Korea? |
2012-12-18 |
Last week's rocket launch by North Korea has once again focused international attention on the renegade country, especially the opaque clique that runs it. Besides the titular leader Jang accompanied Jang was one of the two high-ranking officials who accompanied Kim on his visit to the control center last Wednesday ahead of the rocket launch. The other was Pak To-chun, the secretary for munitions in the Workers Party. China rolled out the red carpet for Jang when he went on a six-day state visit to Beijing in August. Last month, Jang was appointed head of North Korea's Sports Guidance Commission, a position that has emerged as a new power base, and South Korean intelligence believe he has also gained control of the Guard Command, which handles security for Kim. The source of Jang's influence is his wife Kim Kyong-hui, the sister of former leader Kim Jong-il, who is believed to have taken over the reins along with Jang and Kim Jong-il's wife Kim Ok when the former North Korean leader suffered a massive stroke in 2008. Kim Kyong-hui was also influential in the appointment of Kim Jong-un to succeed his father. The South's National Intelligence Service told the National Assembly in July this year that Kim Kyong-hui (66) is Kim Jong-un's "advisor." Some pundits say Kim was a heavy drinker and is in poor health, and Jang's position would be in jeopardy without her. The couple's legitimacy comes from the fact that they are members of the Kim family. "Nobody can tell what will happen to Jang Song-taek when Kim Kyong-hui dies or how that will affect Kim Jong-un," said one informed source. "Kim Jong-un's leadership may hinge on his aunt's health." |
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China-Japan-Koreas |
Kimmie's Widow Had Treatment in Berlin |
2012-09-10 |
A woman presumed to be Kim Ok, the widow of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il and new leader Kim Jong-un's stepmother, was treated in hospital in Berlin recently. According to a hospital staffer, she was treated for a cervical disc and coxitis of the right side at the German capital's Charite University Hospital in May and June. Kim stayed in a premier hotel in downtown Berlin after arriving in mid-May. She rode a Mercedes for trips between the hospital and the hotel, accompanied by a North Korean diplomat from Geneva as her interpreter. She is said to have paid cash. Photos obtained by the Chosun Ilbo from a Korean expatriate living there last Friday show the woman sporting a coat and a pair of white sandals with a scarf around her neck. At Beijing Airport earlier she looked nondescript in black elastic pants. Kim Ok had looked after Kim Jong-il since she was chosen for his "Pleasure Squad" in the 1980s. She lived with him since his previous wife Ko Yong-hui, Kim Jong-un's mother, died in 2004 and exercised some power from Kim senior's sickbed after he collapsed with a stroke in August 2008. At the time, Kim Ok established a close relationship with Kim Jong-il's younger sister Kim Kyong-hui and her husband Jang Song-taek, who are now believed to be directing matters behind the scenes. "That apparently consolidated her status even after Kim Jong-il's death," an informed source said. Meanwhile, several members of the North Korean elite including a woman believed to be Kim Baek-yon, regime founder Kim Il-sung's natural daughter, are also in Berlin for medical treatment. She has reportedly been treated for insomnia and anemia in a famous hospital since July, staying with her mother Kim Song-juk (50) in a luxury hotel in downtown Berlin. She has been spotted in the glitzy shopping mile of Friedrichstrasse there. The North Korean elite often go for medical treatment abroad. Kim Kyong-hui had kidney surgery in Moscow in June last year. |
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Pudgy's Uncle Gains Control of N.Korea | ||||
2012-08-14 | ||||
North Korea is now firmly under the control of Jang Song-taek, the eminence grise behind 20-something leader
"There'd be no reason for Kim Jong-un himself to dismantle after just seven months in office the support structure his father built for him," said Baek Seung-joo at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses. "The shadow of Jang Song-taek looms large" over the young leader. Jang, who is Kim Jong-un's uncle, seems to have been intent on getting rid of his rivals since 2010. His greatest rival Ri Je-gang, a one-time first deputy director of the Workers Party's powerful Organization and Guidance Department, died in a mysterious car accident in May 2010, just a few days before Jang was to be promoted. And early last year, spy chief Ryu Kyong, another apparent rival, was accused of treason following a visit to Seoul and was purged. Instead, figures considered loyal to Jang now occupy key posts in the regime. New army chief Choe Ryong-hae, Mun Kyong-dok, the head of the party's Pyongyang chapter, Ri Yong-su, the head of the party's labor groups, Ambassador to China Ji Jae-ryong, and Sports Minister Pak Myong-chol -- all have been close to Jang for decades.
But some experts say there are natural limits to Jang's power. "In North Korea, only the Kim family is allowed to reign," said on intelligence source. "Jang's power will last only as long as his wife is alive."
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China-Japan-Koreas |
Who Is the Mystery Woman with Fat Boy? |
2011-12-31 |
A young woman spotted near new North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his father's funeral has drawn international press attention. In a scene from the funeral broadcast by North Korean state TV on Wednesday night, Kim Jong-un is shown paying his last respects to Kim Jong-il flanked by 20 to 30 high-ranking officials at Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang. A woman who appears to be in her 20s can be seen standing among the entourage in addition to his aunt Kim Kyong-hui (65), and his sister Kim Yeo-jong (24). She is tall, has long hair and a youthful countenance. She can also be seen confidently walking past Kim Jong-un's uncle Jang Song-taek as he enters the palace, giving rise to speculation that she is Kim Jong-un's wife. Rumors began circulating last year that Kim had married a woman who graduated from the prestigious Kim Il-sung University. But others suggest she is his secretary. In North Korea, personal secretaries to the leader are believed to wield considerable power. This would explain why she walked so freely past Jang, who is believed to be the power behind the throne. Kim Jong-il's fourth wife Kim Ok used to be his secretary. |
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China-Japan-Koreas | |
ROK Lacks Radar to Detect Nork Artillery | |
2011-11-16 | |
![]() The Seoul area is threatened by about 340 long-range artillery pieces with a range of 54-65 km, including 170 mm self-propelled howitzers and 240 mm multiple rocket launchers, which the North has deployed along the western frontline near the demilitarized zone. This means large parts of the metropolitan area lie within the range of the North's long-range artillery, which is reportedly capable of raining up to 7,000 shells per hour on the area.
That means the South must locate the source of artillery fire immediately after a North Korean attack either to fire at the weapons before they are put back into the caves or destroy the mouths of the caves so they cannot be pulled out again. The artillery firefinder radar is a device capable of tracing the trajectory of enemy artillery shells. The South cannot launch a preemptive strike on the North's long-range artillery, and the artillery firefinder radar can detect enemy shells only after they are fired. The only option is to neutralize artillery immediately after an attack. South Korea has a total of 20 artillery firefinder radar systems, including the American-made AN/TPQ-36 and 37 firefinders and the Swedish-made Arthur. The TPQ-36 is also called "mortar-locating radar" due to its short detection range of 24 km. The TPQ-37 has a coverage range of 50 km. The military has bought six Arthur firefinders since 2009 to complement the TPQ radars. But there are fears that that is not enough since the radar systems are in short supply and break down often. According to data the Defense Acquisition Program Administration submitted to Future Hope Alliance lawmaker Song Young-sun of the National Assembly's Defense Committee, the six new Arthur firefinders deployed at the Third Army headquarters and its five corps broke down a staggering 78 times between November 2009 and November 2010. According to data released by Grand National Party lawmaker Kim Ok-lee of the same committee, the TPQ-36 were repaired 98 times and the TPQ-37 60 times over the past five years. Last November, when the North shelled Yeonpyeong Island, the military failed to locate the source of the fire at first because a TPQ-37 broke down. On Aug. 10, when the North fired artillery shells into waters off Yeonpyeong Island, an Arthur also failed to detect them because they were in the radar's blind spot, and experts say this could happen again. A military source said, "The artillery firefinder radar can detect objects at a 60-90 degree angle. We can cover target areas around the clock only when we operate all radar systems in rotation, so it's hard to carry out watertight detection of long-range artillery fire only with about 20 radar systems." The South has fewer than 10 TPQ-37s, and the U.S. Forces Korea has concluded it needs about 20 TPQ-37s to watch the frontline areas adequately. The TPQ-36 costs W3.7 billion apiece and the TPQ-37 W14.7 billion. | |
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China-Japan-Koreas |
Kimmie's 4th Wife Goes Along to China |
2011-05-25 |
![]() North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's fourth wife Kim Ok is among his entourage on a visit to China. A video clip posted on the Internet shows Kim visiting an LCD factory on the outskirts of the southern Chinese city of Nanjing. In the video, he gets out of a car and is greeted by a welcoming party, while Kim Ok emerges from the other side of the vehicle. The bodyguard who opens the door bows to Kim Ok, who is wearing a light green top, black skirt and white shoes. It is rare for her to be spotted on the North Korean leader's overseas visits. "Kim Ok played the role of North Korea's first lady by accompanying Kim Jong-il on both visits to China in May and August last year," a South Korean intelligence officer said. "The woman is clearly Kim Ok seeing as she sat next to Kim Jong-il and emerged from the car with him." Just goes to show ya, evil dictators need love too.. She apparently strengthened her influence after caring for Kim Jong-il when he suffered a massive stroke in August 2008. She was also present when Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun met the North Korean leader in August 2009. Kim Ok majored in piano at a university in Pyongyang and was selected as part of an elite troupe of female entertainers in the early 1980s. Since then, she has been in charge of tending to Kim Jong-il's health, according to intelligence officials. Sounds like Suha. Make sure he tells ya where all the money is before he croaks. Makes things a lot easier... One high-ranking North Korean official who defected to South Korea recently said, "Kim Ok wields considerable power in North Korea and shouts at high-ranking officials and gives them orders." "I'm Mrs. Kim, dammit!" There are rumors that Kim fathered a son with Kim Ok who is now seven. She is believed to have married the leader in June 2004, when his third wife Ko Yong-hui died. |
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China-Japan-Koreas |
N. Korea Parades Defectors' Families on Video |
2011-03-10 |
North Korea on Wednesday released video footage of interviews with the family members of four North Korean drifters who have defected to South Korea, pleading with them to return. The four were among 31 North Koreans whose boat drifted into South Korean waters early last month. The video, posted on the North's official propaganda website Uriminzokkiri, shows family members of the four accusing the South Korean government for coercing or persuading the four North Koreans to defect. Kim Ok-jin, who claims to be the mother of a 22-year-old female defector, says, "The South Korean puppets are detaining my daughter who drifted in bad weather." She adds the South is "trampling on the hearts of parents who yearn for their daughter's return." A South Korean intelligence official said, "Look at these peoples faces. [The regime is] pressuring the defectors to return or watch their families die." North Korea is apparently the first country ever to try and blackmail defectors by blatantly parading their families before the world press. North Korea also sent a letter signed by the families of all 31 drifters and addressed to the unification minister and the head of the South Korean Red Cross demanding the return of all of them. The North once again demanded that South Korea let the North bring the four defectors face to face with their families in the truce village of Panmunjom. A government official said, "I believe the defectors all have their own private reasons for making their decisions. This is not the Cold War, and in an age when there are more than 20,000 North Korean defectors living in South Korea, why would the government try to coerce or persuade them to defect?" |
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China-Japan-Koreas | |
Kim Jong-il May Have 7-Year-Old Son | |
2011-02-12 | |
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has a seven-year-old son with his live-in paramour, the Liberty Forward Party lawmaker Park Sun-young of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee claimed Thursday. "I heard from a senior Chinese official that Kim Jong-il has a seven-year-old son with Kim Ok (47), and that they got officially married about two years ago," the hard-right lawmaker claimed. Kim Jong-il (69) is believed to have three sons and three daughters -- his eldest son Jong-nam with Song Hye-rim, who died in 2002; two sons, Jong-chol and Jong-un, and a daughter, Yo-jong, with Ko Yong-hui, who died in 2004; a daughter Hye-kyong with Hong Il-chon, who was born in 1942; and another daughter, Sol-song, with Kim Yong-sook, who was born in 1947. Kim Jong-il began living together with Kim Ok in 2004 after Ko Yong-hui died. Kim Ok was said to have acted as the regent when Kim collapsed with a stroke in August 2008. There is speculation that they got officially married either in late 2008 or in early 2009, after he recovered his health. Since then Kim Ok has played a role as the North's first lady. In August 2009, she attended luncheon between Kim Jong-il and Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun in Pyongyang. She also popped up in September 2010, when Kim Jong-il and his son and heir Jong-un posed for a group photo with the new North Korean leadership after an extra party congress. But a South Korean intelligence officer said the rumor is "difficult" to verify. Park said she was also told that Kim Ok, who is regarded as dovish, will highly likely be purged if Kim Jong-un takes power.
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China-Japan-Koreas |
Dupe URL: The Torrid Romantic Life of Kim Jong-il |
2011-01-21 |
![]() Yun Hye-yong was a woman beyond the reach even of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il. Yun, the lead singer of Kim's former favorite band Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble, was brutally executed after she spurned Kim's persistent advances and fell in love with another man. Or so claims Chang Jin-song, an author formerly affiliated with the North Korean Workers' Party, in "Kim Jong-il's Last Woman." Published in May, it is an epic poem that details Kim's private life and inside story of his regime based on the true story of the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble. According to the book, Kim ordered Yun Hye-yong's songs to be used for the mass gymnastic performance "Arirang," and attended a concert with her on his birthday. Although many women had found the dictator's favor before, none had ever merited a place next to him at a public event. Kim even sent officials to Europe to buy her stage costumes and accessories. Yet Yun loved the band's pianist. When Kim's agents discovered their relationship by tapping her phone, Yun jumped from the roof of Mokran House, an official banquet hall, with her lover. Although the man died instantly, Kim ordered his men to kill Yun after resuscitating her by any means. She was eventually executed at the end of 2003, while still in coma. Kim Ok, another of Kim's paramours, was introduced in the South Korean media in July 2006 as his fourth wife. However, the woman whom the media named "Kim Ok" was not the woman who features in a book by Kenji Fujimoto, Kim Jong-il's former personal chef. According to the June issue of the Monthly Chosun, "Kim Ok was in fact Kim Son-ok, a former aide to Jo Myong-rok, the first vice chairman of North Korea's National Defense Commission. The real Kim Ok was the pianist of Wangjaesan Light Music Band and a graduate of Kumsong Senior Middle School, known for extensively training Kim's private entertainers. Kim loved her more for her bold personality and sharp wit than her looks, and granted her the privilege of speaking informally to him. To Kim, long used to absolute obedience to his authority, Kim Ok's gestures would've appeared refreshing. Although Kim's former wives Song Hye-rim and Ko Yong-hui were artists, they were civilians to begin with, not women exclusively trained to entertain Kim. But Kim Ok had been selected for such a purpose, and often entertained Kim at the orgies he held with his inner circle. It would have been unthinkable, therefore, for Kim to make Kim Ok his official wife. Most women with whom Kim was involved were celebrities. It is widely known that he moved in with the actress Song Hye-rim after abandoning his fiancé Kim Yong-sook. Hong Yong-hui, who was bestowed the title of "distinguished actress" at the age of 18, or Woo In-hui, an actress publicly executed for openly speaking about her relationship with Kim, were among many celebrities who had become Kim's paramours. |
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China-Japan-Koreas | ||
N. Korea 'Fattens Up' People for Family Reunions | ||
2010-12-03 | ||
The same report recounts the experience of a South Korean delegation to the North, who were reportedly asked to provide a "gift" and required to pay "US$50 per person" themselves for a banquet arranged for them. Another cable, filed by the U.S. Consulate General in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang in 2009, touched on North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. According to the dispatch, one businesswoman, who is powerful enough not to fear the North Koreans, met Kim Jong-il at his guest villa on Mt. Myohyang, where she found the dictator "in good health and spirits." She said she got the impression that Kim, "detail-oriented, charismatic and with a good memory," was in control of everything. Kim, thought to be seriously ill, seems not to be following doctors' orders and concerned about his health at all," the cable said. He "lit a cigarette as soon as the formal one-hour meeting ended, drank champagne before dinner, whiskey cocktails during the meal, and continued to chain-smoke throughout the private dinner." It added the businesswoman recalled Kim's mistress, "Kim Ok, sitting on a separate sofa and taking notes." | ||
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