Behind North Korea’s political crisis - World Socialist Web Site
▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/12/23/pers-d23.html
The summary trial and execution of North Korea’s no. 2 leader, Jang Song-thaek, on December 12 points to a deep internal crisis within the Pyongyang regime. Since the death of leader Kim Jong-il two years ago, his son and successor Kim Jong-un has removed around 100 of the country’s top 218 officials, including all but two of the seven who accompanied his father’s hearse.
The clearest indication of the turmoil inside North Korea comes from Jang’s supposed “confession,” which declared that he was planning to seize power “when the economy goes totally bankrupt and the state is on the verge of collapse.” Jang is being made the scapegoat for a stagnant, crisis-prone economy that is generating profound social tensions and instability in the police-state regime.