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 The sacking of Jang for mismanaging the economy, corruption,
womanizing and drug-taking comes after South Korean media reports
that one of his aides has sought asylum in South Korea.
The unidentified aide, who managed funds for Jang, was being
protected by South Korean officials in a secret location in China,
cable news network YTN and the Kyunghyang Shinmun newspaper said on
Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Jang was removed from all his posts and expelled from the ruling
Workers' Party during a meeting of its politburo on Sunday, the
North's official KCNA news agency said. Kim Jong Un attended and
"guided" the meeting, it said.
North Korean state television showed a still photograph of Jang
being hauled away by uniformed guards from a large conference hall
as it reported on the politburo meeting.
Kim's uncle has also been airbrushed out of pictures and video
footage and experts said his name was no longer searchable on the
KCNA database.
"Jang and his followers committed criminal acts baffling imagination
and they did tremendous harm to our party and revolution," KCNA
said, without saying if Jang had been detained or charged with any
crime.
The report also did not refer to Jang's aide, whose defection, if
confirmed, would be the most serious for North Korea in 15 years.
The decision to remove Jang was widely reported in North Korea's
media including on the front page of the official Rodong Sinmun
newspaper on Monday, in contrast to the dismissal of officials in
the past which were almost never reported.
The Rodong Sinmun carried a picture of what it said was the
politburo meeting. Jang and Kim Kyong Hui, Jang's wife and aunt to
the young leader, were among 17 politburo members. Neither could be
seen in the photo.
JANG'S WIFE NOT IN TROUBLE
But Kim's aunt, the daughter of the North's founding leader Kim Il
Sung, was not in trouble, a source with close ties to Pyongyang told
Reuters.
Last week a South Korean official said Jang was likely alive and in
no immediate physical danger, as was his wife.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service last week said it
believed Jang had been relieved of his posts in November. It also
said two of Jang's close associates were executed recently for
corruption.
The sacking means Pyongyang is undergoing its biggest leadership
upheaval since the death in 2011 of former leader Kim Jong Il, the
younger Kim's father.
Among Jang's senior party and military posts, he was vice chairman
of the country's top military body, the National Defence Commission.
Jang had close ties to China and visited Beijing in 2012 on behalf
of Kim. He was also head of the North Korean side of a joint project
managing a special economic zone with Beijing.
KCNA listed a series of reasons why Jang was dismissed, including
mismanagement of the country's financial system, corruption,
womanizing and abusing alcohol and drugs.
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"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 scene," KCNA said.
"Affected by the capitalist way of living, Jang committed
irregularities and corruption and led a dissolute and depraved
life."
Experts say Jang's removal will help the younger Kim consolidate his
power base with a group of younger aides. Until he was fired, Jang
was widely considered to be working to ensure his nephew firmly
established his grip on power in the past two years.
NOT SO LUCKY THIS TIME?
Jang had been a prominent fixture 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 survived previous purges and official displeasure, thanks
largely to his sometimes tempestuous marriage to Kim Kyong Hui, but
this time was different, said Jeung Young-tae, an expert at the
Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.
"Jang is gone and purged. In North Korea, there can be no two suns,"
Jeung said.
YTN said Jang's aide fled to China in late September or early
October and that Jang could have been sacked because of this. It
said the aide had knowledge of funds belonging to the younger Kim
and Kim Jong Il.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service had no knowledge of the
defection, lawmakers said on Friday after they were briefed by the
head of the spy agency.
China's Foreign Ministry said it had noted the reports, but did "not
understand the situation". U.S. national security officials said the
United States was aware of the reports but could not substantiate
them.
About 25,000 North Koreans have defected to the South but few of
them were highly placed in Pyongyang.
The highest-profile defection was Hwang Jang Yop, a Worker's Party
ideologue who was the architect of the Juche (self-reliance)
ideology of North Korea. He sought asylum in the South in 1997.
(Additional reporting by Benjamin Lim in
Beijing; editing by Dean
Yates and Nick Macfie)
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