Kim Jong Un's uncle dragged away from meeting, erased from documentary

 

KCTV / Yonhap via EPA

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's uncle Jang Song Thaek, center, is arrested during an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party in Pyongyang on Sunday.

By Henry Austin, NBC News contributor

This is the dramatic moment that the once-powerful uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was hauled away by police from a political meeting.

KCTV / Yonhap via AFP - Getty Images

Jang Song Thaek was taken from his chair by two police officials.

Long regarded as the second most powerful man in the secretive state, Jang Song Thaek was key to his nephew’s rise to power. However, North Korean state-run news agency KCNA announced Monday that he had “led a dissolute and depraved life” and said he had been dismissed for a string of criminal acts including corruption, womanizing and drug-taking.
"Jang and his followers committed criminal acts baffling imagination and they did tremendous harm to our party and revolution," the agency said in a report following a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party politburo on Sunday.

 

 

Kim Jong Un attended and "guided" the meeting which decided to dismiss Jang from all his posts and expel him from the Workers' Party, KCNA said.
"Affected by the capitalist way of living, Jang committed irregularities and corruption and led a dissolute and depraved life," the news agency added, saying the decision to remove him was also based on his mismanagement of the country's financial system and corruption.
"Jang pretended to uphold the party and leader but was engrossed in such factional acts (such) as dreaming different dreams and involving himself in double-dealing behind the scenes," KCNA said.

Rodong Sinmun / KCNA via AFP - Getty Images

Kim Jong Un attending the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang on Sunday.

Jang is married to Kim’s aunt Kim Kyong Hui, the daughter of the North's founding leader Kim Il Sung.  He had been prominent in many of the reports and photographs of Kim Jong Un's public activities, but his appearances have tapered off sharply this year and he has not been since in official media since early November.
He has also been edited out of a documentary called "The Great Comrade," according to South Korea’s Ministry of Unification.  
Jang can be seen in still pictures taken from the original October broadcast of the movie but there was no trace of him when it was re-shown in December.  

South Korean Ministry of Unification via AFP - Getty Images

Before and after frames from the documentary "The Great Comrade," showing scenes from the original version, left, broadcast on Oct. 7 and the version rebroadcast on Saturday, right, where Jang Song Thaek (circled), was edited out of footage.

A South Korean official last week said Jang and his wife were likely alive and in no immediate physical danger despite South Korea's National Intelligence Service confirming the public execution of two close aides.
Reuters contributed to this report. 

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