International media is reporting that Kim Jong-un ordered his ex girlfriend, Hyon Song-wol and members of her orchestra machine-gunned to death shortly after watching one of their popular performances. They were accused of the rather incongruous crimes of making pornography and possessing bibles. The notion of a cabal of bible-thumping pornographers would be laughable in most countries but perfectly consistent in “the second happiest place on Earth.” Indeed, the bizarre environment created in North Korea makes it very difficult to dismiss stories that would initially appear a hoax. The fact that this is considered in the realm of possibility says much about the state of North Korea.
The report appears to have originated with Chosun Ilbo, which stated: “They were executed with machine guns while the key members of the Unhasu Orchestra, Wangjaesan Light Band and Moranbong Band as well as the families of the victims looked on.” Reports also stated that family members of those executed were sent to prison camps under North Korea’s law of “guilt by association.”
The reports stated that Hyon, her band leader, and the other musicians were executed just three days after their arrests. That is an improvement by the “death by mortar” approach used in an earlier case.
The rest of the Unhasu Orchestra and Wangjaesan Light Music Band were forced to watch, according to the reports.
Hyon was famous for her hit single “A Girl In The Saddle Of A Steed” — a pro-regime song that won a Hungarian competition in 2005. It was mistranslated in Western releases as “Excellent Horse-Like Lady”. Below is Hyon’s famous song, which is quintessentially North Korean in its propaganda content and it is hard to imagine what songs actually lost at the Hungarian competition.
According to reports, Kim Jong-un and Hyon were child friends and later sweethearts until Kim’s father Kim Jong-il cut off the relationship. There are rumors that they continued an affair after both married other people and some have suggested that the first lady may have had something to say about the executions. Kim’s current wife Ri Sol-ju was also a member of the Unhasu Orchestra before she married him.
Of course, such atrocities, if true, would not be possible without the continued support of China for the regime. While China has soured on North Korea recently, it still effectively props up the regime to avoid the reunification of Korea on its border.
Maybe she deserved it. After all do you think the star of “Hyon does Pyongyang” was extolling the great benefits of the state when doing her despicable flixs?
A crazy man kills his ex-girlfriend in USA: Nobody gives a buck.
A crazy man kills his ex-girlfriend in North Korea: International scandal!
Two weighs, two measures.
And, the HOAX hypothesis cannot be ignored, once USA wants the whole world supporting its invasions, and difamation is common thing in politics.
Snow kitty: You do understand there’s a difference between Joe Blow trailer-dweller and the ruler of a nation with nuclear capability, right? You’re surely not so dim you can’t understand the former has no power to impact our lives, while the latter does.
snowmeow wrote:
“A crazy man kills his ex-girlfriend in USA: Nobody gives a buck.
A crazy man kills his ex-girlfriend in North Korea: International scandal!”
Are you ignoring the fact that this is government doing it under the color of law? When was the last time you heard about President Obama arresting anyone and having them killed by machine gun firing squad just days later?
Well, if his wife made him shoot his girlfriend, it won’t be long until she has an accident or something. Because that will gnaw at him, and one day he will get her back.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
If that song was recorded in 2005, they were eight years late in shooting her.
Snap!
“Dan: Totally! ‘Cause there’s virtually no difference between enemy combatants and ex-girlfriends.”
I’m pretty sure that very many of the people Obama has order to be killed without charge, trial, or judicial review, were ex-girlfriends. Also ex-wives, ex-daughters, ex-sons, etc.
Let me ask the question again, since you didn’t answer:
Is the authority claimed by Kim Jung-Un different from the authority claimed by Obama?
Dan: I don’t choose to entertain your straw man. However, please feel free to peruse The Patriot Act and answer the question yourself.
Some of my old girlfriends were enemy combatants.
Nick: Some of my exes, too. At least one could have been referred to as “defendant.” 😉
That music video is interesting too. Despite the subtitles I still couldn’t discern the words.
But the imagery is revealing, the feel and exposition of joy and good times, of flowers and comradery, combined with the imagery and scenes of industrial production, and happy workers.
It is so simple and raw. The message is work hard and give your work product to the state, and your life will be complete, you have done what you were put here on earth to do, and all is well with the universe.
This is exactly what bees and ants do, and are satisfied by.
And exactly what a “socialist” paradise turns into. The stratification of class becomes the most overarching reality of life, and the ones at the top live off the work product coming from ones at the lower classes.
http://www.nolanchart.com/article6576-socialism-begets-authoritarianism.html
I’m sorry, but does this story claim that Kim Jung-Un has executive powers that are not also claimed by Obama?
If NK simply said the victims were ‘terrorists’ then they would have had as much legal protection as thousands of people we have killed, including US citizens.
Right?
Dan: Totally! ‘Cause there’s virtually no difference between enemy combatants and ex-girlfriends.
I agree with Catanya above. WordPress is not good enough. It only censors comments which contain a naughty word like astardBay or itchBay which we mortals have to spell in Pig Latin. JT needs an editor who can read and write. The sentence reminds me of I before e except after c. They were executed by men armed with machine guns just three days after their arrests.
But getting down to the territory of North Korea. It is much worse than a Pirate Territory. It is totally controlled by one midget and there are no free pirates who have any discretion about whom to rape and pillage. It is the worst territory on Earth. Don’t fly over and flush because they will shoot you down.
Even given the real insanity of the country’s leader, doesn’t anyone have the slightest suspicion that the report may be a hoax?
And not to distract from the “seriousness” of this issue, do machine guns really have the power to make arrests? “…Hyon, her band leader, and the other musicians were executed just three days after their arrests by machine gun.” Mr Turley, your posts are badly in need of an editor, but you’ve set some kind of record in ludicrousness with this sentence.
They can’t afford drones.
The notion of a cabal of bible-thumping pornographers would be laughable in most countries but perfectly consistent in “the second happiest place on Earth.”
Well, Stalin was persecuting members of a “Trotskyist-Fascist” conspiracy.
I concur with davidm2525: this guy is more dangerous than Iran or Syria because, at last, there is a superstructure which can keep the president from going too far in the nuttiness and Assad keep his evil inside his borers (and Lebanon); Kim Jung-un hasn’t such limits and has an absolute power.
Those flying pigs are good eatin’. Bringing them down can be a problem.
Al Capone style contract management ….
I watched a National Geographic doc called, Inside North Korea. A camera crew, under the pretext of following a visiting eye surgeon in N. Korea to perform cataract surgeries, gives a revealing view of this country. I has read Christopher Hitchens account of his clandestine visit. But, the visuals were incredibly disturbing. Since the Korean War, the average height of a N. Korean, compared to S. Korean, is 5 inches shorter. This is not a country, it is a cult.
And here I was thinking that religion was the nastiest hoax ever pulled on humankind. Instead it may be this kim Ding-dong critter. One of those drones could be put to good use if some country other than ours unleashed it.
Now that’s tough love…..
Amazing! I find myself in complete agreement with DavidM. Headed outside to watch for flying pigs.
All the media talks about is Syria, but North Korea poses a greater threat to the world. A tyrant who acts this way against his ex-girlfriend reveals how he will act toward others.