hankyoreh

By Park Byong-su, staff reporter

The news of the ouster of Jang Song-thaek was followed by a number of media reports about the status of North Korean officials close to him, including claims that some of his key associates in the Administrative Department of the (North) Korean Workers’ Party (KWP) had left the country. Government officials have refused to confirm these reports, denying any knowledge about them, which makes it difficult to determine how credible the reports are.

Several South Korean newspapers ran reports on Dec. 6 quoting a source familiar with relations between North Korea and China who said that one of Jang’s closest associates fled to China in late September or early October and requested asylum there. According to these reports, this figure was in charge of earning foreign currency and raising funds for the Administrative Department, which Jang was the head of. The reports claimed that this figure fled North Korea because of the threat of a widespread crackdown on people close to Jang.

Media reports differed on what the present situation of Jang’s associate might be. One newspaper said that the figure was being protected by South Korean intelligence authorities at a safe house in China, while another paper ran a conflicting report claiming that he was being protected by Chinese authorities. Yet another paper said that China was blocking the figure from traveling to South Korea and that US officials were working to bring him to the US instead. But there is also a report stating that a North Korean agent was apprehended by Chinese security forces while trying to bring this figure to South Korea through a third country. At a plenary meeting of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee on Dec. 6 NIS director Nam Jae-joon said, “I didn’t know about this. I learned about it from media reports.”

One paper carried a report claiming that Jang is confined to his house in Pyongyang and that he is writing an apology every day on the orders of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The report says that Jang is supposed to take responsibility in the apology for the anti-Party activities of Ri Ryong-ha, first deputy director of the WPK’s Administrative Division (whom the National Intelligence Service claimed was publicly executed). It suggests that Jang has been put in a humiliating situation by his young nephew, Kim Jong-un. The report also said that Jang’s wife Kim Kyong-hui is staying at the house along with him despite reports that Jang has been removed from power.

Reports also claim that various close relatives of Jang who are overseas are being ordered to return to Pyongyang. The family of Jang Yong-chol, another of Jang Song-thaek’s nephews and the North Korean ambassador to Malaysia, recently returned to North Korea via a Air Koryo flight from Taoxian International Airport in Shenyang, China. The family of Jang’s older sister Jang Kye-sun also traveled to North Korea from Beijing Airport, reports claim.

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