

Kim Jong Un's Uncle, Formerly North Korea's No. 2, Is Executed - leothekim
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/12/12/250556545/kim-jong-uns-uncle-formerly-north-koreas-no-2-is-executed

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duncan_bayne
I feel so sorry for the rank and file North Koreans every time I think about
that country.

As far as one of the NK 'inner circle' being executed though ... I only hope
it hurt.

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pdelbarba
I'm less certain about this being the usual shakeup. There was a lot of talk
that he was very well traveled and had stronger connections with the outside
world than most within their government. He'd have been hard pressed to make
the current situation worse so what if he was trying to do something
different? Obviously just supposition, but food for thought.

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jnord
George Orwell's book "1984" (written 1948 and prior to the formation of North
Korea) outlines a state eerily similar to North Korea with its erasure of
people's past, punishment for not clapping enthusiastically and generally for
"dreaming different dreams", as this article puts it. It's disturbing to see
these kind of states still managing to transfer their totalitarian systems
from generation to generation with no foreseeable hope of a positive change.

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collyw
Most Western nations seem to be moving that direction as well.

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bayerian
This is like a modern day Game of Thrones.

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squozzer
His crime was being capable of displacing Kim Jong Un. Almost every monarch in
history had a purge of uncles and male cousins.

