On April 29th, South Korea’s National Intelligence
Service revealed that 15 high ranking officials in North Korea were recently executed. In
the face of this news, Daily NK has inquired as to the climate of opinion
regarding Kim Jung Eun. In short, ordinary citizens generally view Kim Jung Eun
as a two-faced leader who outwardly expresses “love for the people” and
unhesitatingly executes anyone he dislikes.
We asked a contact in North Pyongan Province about whether ordinary citizens were aware of the executions, and if
so, what were their opinions. The contact replied on May 8th that the news of
the secret executions had been widely spread by word of mouth. Moreover,
the “inside and outside of Kim’s politics is inconsistent insofar as Kim wields
a knife with a smile on his face,” she said.
“The executions at Kang
Kon Military Academy were also supposed to be secret, but news of the incident spread by word of mouth–even to the rural areas–and
remained a hot topic for a long time,” she added. “Chosun Central TV [KCTV] released a video
of Kim hugging and smiling at an orphan, portraying a figure who is warm and paternal; in reality, however, he’s a ruthless dictator who orders public
executions as frequently as a person eats a meal.”
She explained that Kim Jung Eun’s consistent imitation of
Kim Il Sung, at first mainly demonstrated by his hairstyle and clothing choices, has escalated into full-blown emulation of the latter’s political style. Whereas Kim Jong Il’s inhumane and icy personality
was obvious and unconcealed, “Kim Jung Eun has a smile on his face and a sword
in his hand–just like Kim Il Sung,” she asserted.
Kim Il Sung advertised
himself as a “son of the people,” attempting to buy the populace’s loyalty with “rice
and meat soup” while harboring far more nefarious traits, according to the source. “Someone suggested to Kim that the
light industry should have preference for state support over the heavy industry
in order to improve the living standards of people. That economist was then
denounced as a member of a harmful sect, and summarily executed,” she said.
Daily NK also spoke with a North Korean trader based in Dandong, China, who had similar comments to offer regarding the public executions of the Eunhasu Orchestra members. “The members’ death is very similar to that of actress
Woo In Hee, who was publicly executed in front of hundreds of fellow
entertainers and Party members in the 1970s. Kim Jung Eun seems to have genetically
inherited the tactic of executing enemies under fabricated criminal charges in
order to solidify his power,” he said.
This source added that as a result, North Korean traders and workers in China
are taking more precautions after Kim Jong Eun came into power. “After the
liquidation of Jang Song Thaek’s close associates, we’ve been offering more
bribes to the authorities to stay on their good side. The higher-ups in NK
ordered the supervisors to put the workers–tasked with procuring foreign currency– outside North Korea under greater scrutiny; now, because of this, many workers are toiling much harder than before,” he concluded.
*The content of this article was broadcast to the North Korean people via Unification Media Group.
