The music of Stalinism requires that a single note be struck, over and over, until everyone – the slaves and their masters alike – abandon their distinctions and march as a collective before the Maximum-Ultimate Individual who pretends to represent the whole. Organic harmony and dissonance are due to factionalism – that is, deviation from the Leader, and from the pulse that guides the collective.
When the Dear Leader Kim Jong Il achieved immortality on December 17th, 2011, it seems as though Jang Song Thaek – considered at the time to dominate the transitional authority – thought to register his own claim to rule the slave state of North Korea. But fickle history, alas, favored the Stalinist dynasty, and the Workers’ Party favored Un.
Unanimous resolution. Prolonged and stormy applause. But at the moment of appointment, Jang Song Thaek did not rise with sufficient vigor, nor clap with sufficient enthusiasm, for Un to feel validated. As the North Korean communiqué puts it:
When… the decision that Kim Jong Un was elected vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea at the Third Conference of the WPK in reflection of the unanimous will of all party members, service personnel and people was proclaimed, making all participants break into enthusiastic cheers that shook the conference hall, he behaved so arrogantly and insolently as unwillingly standing up from his seat and half-heartedly clapping, touching off towering resentment of our service personnel and people.
This is all a very Stalinist way of saying that Kim Jong Un has removed his primary rival, and so consolidated his position at the apex of the very worst state in the world. And so, six days ago, Jang was lead away from a meeting of the Central Committee. (See photo above.)
And here he is, several moments later, before the tribunal (note how he is prevented from standing upright):
And then, yesterday, he was executed.
This maneuver amounts to a consolidation of power at the very top, and is another sign of North Korea’s disregarding attitude toward China, for whom Jang was a reliable interlocutor. As John Everard, former United Kingdom ambassador to North Korea, puts it:
Firstly, nobody in North Korea can doubt now that [Un], and he alone, is in charge. Nor can anybody doubt that he is utterly ruthless in removing absolutely anybody who might, in the colourful language of the indictment, “dream different dreams”.
If even the immensely powerful Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s own uncle, can be brought so low and dispatched so swiftly, then nobody is safe.
Secondly, Kim Jong-un has told his country – and the world – that not only Jang the man, but also the vision that he stood for, has been purged.
Jang Song-thaek seems to have argued for a less closed North Korea, one that embraced trade and encouraged inward investment. He was in charge of several (perhaps all) of North Korea’s planned special economic zones… and was regarded as a strong supporter of economic reform…
Thirdly, this is a slap in the face for China. China is often described as North Korea’s only ally but with every nuclear test and every provocative missile launch the relationship has become more strained.
This – from the state news agency – is how the people of North Korea hear it:
Today, after the nation’s greatest morning, the party members, service personnel of the People’s Army, and the entire people, entrust their destiny entirely to respected Kim Jong Un, and are waging a vigorous struggle to implement the instructions of the Great Kim Jong Il in firm unity around the Party center. But the dangerous anti-party, counter-revolutionary, factionalist incident recently took place, that those chance elements and heterogeneous elements entrenched within the party, in an attempt to emasculate the monolithic leadership of the party, expanded their force with factionalist moves, and dared to challenge the party.
Or, set to music:
