"All-New" North Korea is Best Korea!

[Coligny]

You worked in zee DPRK ?... Too ?...

[Russell]

Aide of Kim’s ‘purged’ uncle seeking asylum in South Korea

An aide of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s uncle is seeking asylum in South Korea after fleeing his country ahead of a leadership purge, a report said Friday.

South Korean officials believe the escapee might have managed funds for Jang Song Thaek, who until last week was regarded as Kim’s political regent, according to the South’s cable news network YTN.

The report, citing intelligence sources, also said he may have information on secret funds controlled by the Kim family. It said the man escaped from Pyongyang two months ago and is now under the protection of South Korean intelligence agents in China while he awaits a flight to Seoul.

South Korea’s spy agency and Unification Ministry declined to confirm the report.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) told a parliamentary committee Tuesday in Seoul that it believed Kim’s uncle, Jang, had been removed and two associates executed.

YTN said the aide fled after discovering Jang’s dismissal.

On Thursday, Yonhap news agency reported that North Korea’s ambassador to Malaysia, Jang Yong Chol, had been recalled after Jang was apparently ousted. The ambassador’s wife and two sons were spotted Thursday before boarding a flight to Pyongyang in China’s northeastern city of Shenyang, Yonhap said, citing multiple witnesses.

NIS chief Nam Jae-joon told a parliamentary committee Friday that the ambassador, one of Jang’s nephews, had been recalled.

North Korea’s ambassador to Cuba, Jon Yong Jin — the husband of Jang’s elder sister — has also been recalled, he said, according to a joint briefing by ruling and opposition party lawmakers.

Jang’s apparent dismissal is particularly noteworthy given the crucial role he was seen as having played in securing Kim’s own succession after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il.

The NIS assessment has triggered a wave of conjecture as to why Kim has seemingly turned on the 67-year-old Jang, who helped put him on the throne. However, the NIS report was only an assessment and it is yet to be confirmed whether Jang has actually been dismissed.

Link

Edit: In other news it is reported that uncle Jang's downfall was actually triggered by an (this?) aide defecting to South-Korea: Kim Jong-Un's uncle is airbrushed out of television documentary repeat after being sacked by dictator nephew.

[Russell]

Report on Enlarged Meeting of Political Bureau of Central Committee of WPK

PYONGYANG, December 9 05:39 KST (KCNA) — A report on the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) was released on December 8.

The following is the full text of the report:

An enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK was held in Pyongyang, the capital of the revolution, on Dec. 8.

Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, first secretary of the WPK, guided the meeting.

Present there were members and alternate members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK.

Leading officials of the Central Committee of the WPK, provincial party committees and armed forces organs attended it as observers.

Our party members, service personnel and all other people have made energetic efforts to implement the behests of leader Kim Jong Il, entrusting their destiny entirely to Kim Jong Un and getting united close around the Central Committee of the WPK since the demise of Kim Jong Il, the greatest loss to the nation.

In this historic period for carrying forward the revolutionary cause of Juche the chance elements and alien elements who had made their ways into the party committed such anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts as expanding their forces through factional moves and daring challenge the party, while attempting to undermine the unitary leadership of the party.

In this connection, the Political Bureau of the C.C., the WPK convened its enlarged meeting and discussed the issue related to the anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts committed by Jang Song Thaek.

The meeting, to begin with, fully laid bare the anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts of Jang Song Thaek and their harmfulness and reactionary nature.

It is the immutable truth proved by the nearly 70-year-long history of the WPK that the party can preserve its revolutionary nature as the party of the leader and fulfill its historic mission only when it firmly ensures its unity and cohesion based on the monolithic idea and the unitary center of leadership.

The entire party, whole army and all people are dynamically advancing toward the final victory in the drive for the building of a thriving nation, meeting all challenges of history and resolutely foiling the desperate moves of the enemies of the revolution under the leadership of Kim Jong Un. Such situation urgently calls for consolidating as firm as a rock the single-minded unity of the party and the revolutionary ranks with Kim Jong Un as its unitary centre and more thoroughly establishing the monolithic leadership system of the party throughout the party and society.

The Jang Song Thaek group, however, committed such anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts as gnawing at the unity and cohesion of the party and disturbing the work for establishing the party unitary leadership system and perpetrated such ant-state, unpopular crimes as doing enormous harm to the efforts to build a thriving nation and improve the standard of people's living.

Jang pretended to uphold the party and leader but was engrossed in such factional acts as dreaming different dreams and involving himself in double-dealing behind the scene.

Though he held responsible posts of the party and state thanks to the deep political trust of the party and leader, he committed such perfidious acts as shunning and obstructing in every way the work for holding President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in high esteem for all ages, behaving against the elementary sense of moral obligation and conscience as a human being.

Jang desperately worked to form a faction within the party by creating illusion about him and winning those weak in faith and flatterers to his side.

Prompted by his politically-motivated ambition, he tried to increase his force and build his base for realizing it by implanting those who had been punished for their serious wrongs in the past period into ranks of officials of departments of the party central committee and units under them.

Jang and his followers did not sincerely accept the line and policies of the party, the organizational will of the WPK, but deliberately neglected their implementation, distorted them and openly played down the policies of the party. In the end, they made no scruple of perpetrating such counter-revolutionary acts as disobeying the order issued by the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army.

The Jang group weakened the party's guidance over judicial, prosecution and people's security bodies, bringing very harmful consequences to the work for protecting the social system, policies and people.

Such acts are nothing but counter-revolutionary, unpopular criminal acts of giving up the class struggle and paralyzing the function of popular democratic dictatorship, yielding to the offensive of the hostile forces to stifle the DPRK.

Jang seriously obstructed the nation's economic affairs and the improvement of the standard of people's living in violation of the pivot-to-the-Cabinet principle and the Cabinet responsibility principle laid down by the WPK.

The Jang group put under its control the fields and units which play an important role in the nation's economic development and the improvement of people's living in a crafty manner, making it impossible for the economic guidance organs including the Cabinet to perform their roles.

By throwing the state financial management system into confusion and committing such act of treachery as selling off precious resources of the country at cheap prices, the group made it impossible to carry out the behests of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on developing the industries of Juche iron, Juche fertilizer and Juche vinalon.

Affected by the capitalist way of living, Jang committed irregularities and corruption and led a dissolute and depraved life.

By abusing his power, he was engrossed in irregularities and corruption, had improper relations with several women and was wined and dined at back parlors of deluxe restaurants.

Ideologically sick and extremely idle and easy-going, he used drugs and squandered foreign currency at casinos while he was receiving medical treatment in a foreign country under the care of the party.

Jang and his followers committed criminal acts baffling imagination and they did tremendous harm to our party and revolution.

The ungrateful criminal acts perpetrated by the group of Jang Song Thaek are lashing our party members, service personnel of the People's Army and people into great fury as it committed such crimes before they observed two-year mourning for Kim Jong Il, eternal general secretary of the WPK.

Speeches were made at the enlarged meeting.

Speakers bitterly criticized in unison the anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts committed by the Jang group and expressed their firm resolution to remain true to the idea and leadership of Kim Jong Un and devotedly defend the Party Central Committee politically and ideologically and with lives.

The meeting adopted a decision of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee on relieving Jang of all posts, depriving him of all titles and expelling him and removing his name from the WPK.

The party served warning to Jang several times and dealt blows at him, watching his group's anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts as it has been aware of them from long ago. But it did not pay heed to it but went beyond tolerance limit. That was why the party eliminated Jang and purged his group, unable to remain an onlooker to its acts any longer, dealing telling blows at sectarian acts manifested within the party.

Our party will never pardon anyone challenging its leadership and infringing upon the interests of the state and people in violation of the principle of the revolution, regardless of his or her position and merits.

No matter how mischievously a tiny handful of anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional elements may work, they can never shake the revolutionary faith of all party members, service personnel and people holding Kim Jong Un in high esteem as the unitary centre of unity and unitary centre of leadership.

The discovery and purge of the Jang group, a modern day faction and undesirable elements who happened to worm their ways into our party ranks, made our party and revolutionary ranks purer and helped consolidate our single-minded unity remarkably and advance more dynamically the revolutionary cause of Juche along the road of victory.

No force on earth can deter our party, army and people from dynamically advancing toward a final victory, single-mindedly united around Kim Jong Un under the uplifted banner of great Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism.

Link

In other words, uncle Jang is fucked...

[Russell]

North Korea Releases List of Accusations Against Uncle Jang


Jang Song Thaek, uncle to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was forcibly removed from a meeting of the Political Bureau by uniformed personnel in a photograph released Monday by Yonhap news agency.

North Korea confirmed on Monday that Jang Song-thaek, the uncle of Kim Jong-un, the country’s top leader, had been stripped of all titles of power and expelled from the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea. Mr. Jang is the most prominent figure to be purged since Mr. Kim took power two years ago.

Moving swiftly to consolidate his authority, Mr. Kim presided over an extended meeting of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee on Sunday, which formalized the sidelining of Mr. Jang, 67, who had been considered the second most powerful person in North Korea after Mr. Kim.

A number of Mr. Jang’s associates also were purged, according to a lengthy report by the state-run Korea Central News Agency, which called them “a modern-day faction” and “undesirable elements who happened to worm their ways into our party ranks.” Mr. Jang and his “group” were accused of committing “such anti-party, counterrevolutionary factional acts as expanding their forces through factional moves” and “attempting to undermine the unitary leadership of the party.”

South Korean intelligence officials said the language in the report was a signal that Mr. Kim, who is 30, was uprooting a wide network of protégés Mr. Jang had placed in party and military posts, and doing it in a way that was meant to send a strong signal to others in the country’s elite that he is firmly in charge. The report said that other Central Committee members, representatives from provincial party committees and the People’s Army attended the meeting as observers.

Mr. Kim’s two years in power have been marked by a series of demotions, promotions and purges of top party and military figures, a tactic that was also used by his two predecessors — Kim Jong-il, his father and Mr. Jang’s brother in law, and Kim Il-sung, Mr. Kim’s grandfather and the founding president of North Korea. But it is highly unusual for the country to publicize its internal political machinations by holding an extended party meeting and announcing its results publicly.

The Korean news report said that speakers at the meeting criticized the Jang group “in unison” and “expressed their firm resolution to remain true to the idea and leadership of Kim Jong-un.” Anyone who impedes his authority will never be pardoned, “regardless of his or her position and merits,” it said.

Mr. Jang and his wife, Kim Kyong-hee, Kim Jong-il’s sister, were widely thought to be acting as regents for their nephew, helping him establish his leadership after Kim Jong-il’s death in December 2011. Mr. Jang held a series of influential titles in agencies of power headed by Mr. Kim, including a seat on the Political Bureau and vice chairmanships of the Central Military Commission and the top government organ, the National Defense Commission.

South Korean officials who have met Mr. Jang and analysts who follow developments in the North differ in assessing Mr. Jang. Some called him an ambitious machine politician who built his own power base while helping his inexperienced nephew, setting the stage for Mr. Kim to eventually see him as a challenge to his monopoly of authority. Others said Mr. Jang was easygoing, a hard drinker, and keenly aware that his position was precarious in a totalitarian state where all agencies of power compete to demonstrate loyalty to the top leader, often by plotting against one another.

More

[matsuki]

Link

In other words, uncle Jang is fucked...

[/quote]

Un there looks like he's already planning this shit back whenever it was taken haha

[Wage Slave]

What struck me was:

"In the end, they made no scruple of perpetrating such counter-revolutionary acts as disobeying the order issued by the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army."

and

"In the end, they made no scruple of perpetrating such counter-revolutionary acts as disobeying the order issued by the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army."

I would suggest that the Korean People's Army are the real power in the land. The politicians, the Kims, and especially the fat boy, are just for show. The army makes or breaks them at will. I don't believe that NK is anything more than a military dictatorship that chooses to govern with the facade of a communist party.

[Russell]

But isn't the fat boy himself the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army?

[Wage Slave]

But isn't the fat boy himself the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army?

I'm not sure - In name he might be, but I sure as hell doubt he is in reality.

[Russell]

[omae mona]

In other words, uncle Jang is fucked...

The firing squad seems to have completed the fucking in the last few minutes, according to news reports. I am amazed it took 3 whole days.

[Russell]

Too many developments recently to quote all articles, so let me summarize.

The charges on uncle Jang are as follows:

...mismanagement of the country's financial system, corruption, womanising and abusing alcohol and drugs.

In other words, he was overqualified to be a politician.

The whole Kim family (including his wife) appears to have turned against uncle Jang, because he became a threat to the dynasty.

Latest news is that uncle Jang was executed.

In the mean time, it has been reported one of uncle Jang's aides has fled into a South-Korean embassy or consulate in China with documents on the Kim family finances and NK's nuclear program.

Interesting times...

[Russell]

Some backgrounds.

Purge of Jang Song –taek Triggered by Supply Corruption

The ouster of North Korean eminence grise Jang Song-taek seems to have been triggered by rampant corruption in a state agency tasked with feeding and clothing the Stalinist country's million-strong army.

Department 54 supplies electricity, coal, fuel, clothes and other necessities to the military. It used to be under direct army control but was moved to the National Defense Commission after Jang became its vice chairman and entrusted his confidant Jang Su-kil with running it.

According to sources, the problem started when leader Kim Jong-un toured several military units and promised to solve their shortages of daily necessities. Kim ordered Department 54 to deal with the matter, but the department failed to comply.

Kim then instructed officials to probe the department and apparently discovered that Jang's orders had been prioritized over his. The probe took place in early October of this year, leading to the arrests and public executions of Jang's cronies Ri Yong-ha and Jang Su-kil. Jang was arrested on Sunday.

Department 54 has burgeoned well beyond a military supplier and now owns department stores in Pyongang and Wonsan as well as controlling mines, power plants, cement factories and agricultural distribution networks throughout North Korea.

When the North faced a food shortage in 2011, Department 54 imported 50,000 tons of corn and distributed it to military units around Pyongyang and the residents of the capital.

Sources said Department 54 officials were also implicated in corruption in the running of a chain of restaurants overseas under the name Haedanghwa.

Democratic Party lawmaker Hong Ik-pyo cited a source in China as saying that Department 54 was warned several times by the North Korean Cabinet against corruption in the Haedanghwa chain, triggering an investigation that eventually led to Jang.

Meanwhile, sources said the purge of Jang and his cronies was spearheaded by Kim Jong-un's half-sister Kim Sul-song and her husband Sin Pok-nam, who presently lead efforts to reform the Workers Party.

Link

[Coligny]

What does corruption look like in DPRK ? you get one more potato every month ?

[Russell]

What does corruption look like in DPRK ? you get one more potato every month ?

You would be surprised: looks like the new leader is suddenly providing potatoes to his people. In other words, all those potatoes were previously taken by corrupt officials...

North Koreans unsure how to handle 560 kg of potatoes in sudden ration flip-flop

North Korean potato farmers breathed a sigh of relief this month when they found out their monthly ration of the crop would be restored and not canceled as earlier reported. The announcement was soon met with confusion however when the workers in the northern Ryanggang Province found out that each of them would receive 560 kg—eight monthly rations-worth—of potatoes at once. Even a notorious eater like North Korean leader Kim Jong Un might find it difficult to stomach that many carbs.

Residents in the key agricultural area of Taehongdan county had earlier been told that only teachers would be getting a monthly potato ration and the remaining crop would be sent to the capital city of Pyongyang for its privileged citizens. Instead, authorities seemed to change their minds in a quick turnaround and announced that each worker’s monthly ration was set at 70 kg and eight months-worth would be given at once.

For the farmers, who had been sent to the rural area to work the fields, the realization that food would be plenty was a huge relief since many had been planning for a tough winter with no potatoes. Relief turned to panic though as bicycles, pushcarts and every available vehicle was mobilized to collect the rations.

Although grateful for the turn in fate, many of the workers wondered why authorities even had the plan to cancel the ration in the first place. Some residents thought that this was just a ploy to appease the hard-working and underpaid farmers, whose discontent could lead to rebellion in the hermit kingdom.

Of course, most of the farmers’ main concerns had to do with the overwhelming amount of potatoes suddenly “gifted” to them. Storing and preserving 560 kg of potatoes, especially in the upcoming winter where they will freeze and become inedible, was daunting to the workers.

Many chose to sell as many potatoes as they could in local markets. At 600 won (US$4) for 1 kg, the uneaten potatoes could be a cash cow for poor farmers if the pesky capitalistic notion of supply and demand does not make the price sink even lower.

Link

Yep, try to sell potatoes to your neighbor who has a stock of half a ton. Great concept...

[legion]

Link

In other words, uncle Jang is fucked...



Un there looks like he's already planning this shit back whenever it was taken haha

apparently he didn't clap heartily enough

[Coligny]

Yep, try to sell potatoes to your neighbor who has a stock of half a ton. Great concept...

Welll at least it's not tulip...

[GomiGirl]

Crikey - oversupply of cheap potatoes.. cue MickyD's entering the market in 3,2,1....

[Russell]

Crikey - oversupply of cheap potatoes.. cue MickyD's entering the market in 3,2,1....

You think with every person in NK having half a ton of potatoes in his / her cellar they would go out and buy Freedom Fries?!?

Or they would want to sell to tourists...

* Yep, "would": your scenario is unlikely in the first place, because MacD needs frying oil. Which is not exactly in oversupply in NK...

[yanpa]

If you squint very closely at GG's post, you can see the <sarcasm> tags.

[Taro Toporific]

..Storing and preserving 560 kg of potatoes, especially in the upcoming winter where they will freeze and become inedible, was daunting to the workers...

Crikey - oversupply of cheap potatoes...

Q: "Storing and preserving 560 kg of potatoes"?

A: Vodka!

From Clipboard.gif

[Russell]

Link

In other words, uncle Jang is fucked...

Apparently he didn't clap heartily enough

Was North Korea's No. 2 Killed For Not Clapping Hard Enough?

As outsiders try to figure out why North Korean leader Kim Jong Un , they're focusing on a couple things. According to NPR's Frank Langfitt:

— There seems have been "a lot of genuine personal dislike" between Kim and Jang Song Thaek, the uncle and until this week North Korea's second most powerful man.

Kim may have been "angry that his uncle disrespected him," . According to North Korea's official news agency, Jang clapped "half-heartedly" when Kim was elected vice chairman of the country's central military commission.

[...]

This news reminded our colleague Scott Neuman of a chilling passage from Alexander Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelo, which described why you did not want to be the first person to stop clapping at one of Josef Stalin's rallies.

At the conclusion of the conference, a tribute to Comrade Stalin was called for. Of course, everyone stood up (just as everyone had leaped to his feet during the conference at every mention of his name). ... For three minutes, four minutes, five minutes, the stormy applause, rising to an ovation, continued. But palms were getting sore and raised arms were already aching. And the older people were panting from exhaustion. It was becoming insufferably silly even to those who really adored Stalin.

However, who would dare to be the first to stop? … After all, NKVD men were standing in the hall applauding and watching to see who would quit first! And in the obscure, small hall, unknown to the leader, the applause went on – six, seven, eight minutes! They were done for! Their goose was cooked! They couldn’t stop now till they collapsed with heart attacks! At the rear of the hall, which was crowded, they could of course cheat a bit, clap less frequently, less vigorously, not so eagerly – but up there with the presidium where everyone could see them?

The director of the local paper factory, an independent and strong-minded man, stood with the presidium. Aware of all the falsity and all the impossibility of the situation, he still kept on applauding! Nine minutes! Ten! In anguish he watched the secretary of the District Party Committee, but the latter dared not stop. Insanity! To the last man! With make-believe enthusiasm on their faces, looking at each other with faint hope, the district leaders were just going to go on and on applauding till they fell where they stood, till they were carried out of the hall on stretchers! And even then those who were left would not falter…

Then, after eleven minutes, the director of the paper factory assumed a businesslike expression and sat down in his seat. And, oh, a miracle took place! Where had the universal, uninhibited, indescribable enthusiasm gone? To a man, everyone else stopped dead and sat down. They had been saved!

The squirrel had been smart enough to jump off his revolving wheel. That, however, was how they discovered who the independent people were. And that was how they went about eliminating them. That same night the factory director was arrested. They easily pasted ten years on him on the pretext of something quite different. But after he had signed Form 206, the final document of the interrogation, his interrogator reminded him:

“Don’t ever be the first to stop applauding.”

More

[Coligny]

Paleontologists have nothing on those guys as far as imagination goes...

[Russell]

[Coligny]

My comment was referring to this:

Kim may have been "angry that his uncle disrespected him," . According to North Korea's official news agency, Jang clapped "half-heartedly" when Kim was elected vice chairman of the country's central military commission.

Not contesting the whole "Stallin was a complete nutcase" thing...
But for kim dong fuck, like paleontologistz they find a 1cm bone and imagine a 5 meter dinosaur...

[Taro Toporific]

North Korea Press Release Generator

Fuckedgaijin-exposed.jpg

Click for new condemnation.

[Taro Toporific]

Best Korea is the best-est: The Tunnel of SquidTM for the holidays

big-tunnel-of-squid.jpg

In this morning's Rodong Shinmun, Kim Jong Un is standing in what can only be described as a tunnel of squid bricks. pic.twitter.com/3KPwHpOO26
--James Pearson (@pearswick)'s twiter December 16, 2013

Sadly, all that pathetic Japan has are sad Squidmas trees...

squid-spinner-350x519.jpg

squid-mas_tree_snow-big.gif

via

[Coligny]

Ready for a rapey christmass...

image.jpg

[matsuki]

Best Korea is the best-est: The Tunnel of SquidTM for the holidays

big-tunnel-of-squid.jpg

In this morning's Rodong Shinmun, Kim Jong Un is standing in what can only be described as a tunnel of squid bricks. pic.twitter.com/3KPwHpOO26
--James Pearson (@pearswick)'s twiter December 16, 2013

Sadly, all that pathetic Japan has are sad Squidmas trees...

squid-spinner-350x519.jpg

squid-mas_tree_snow-big.gif

via

Something NK does that's actually good for us?

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/other ... idence.htm

[Taro Toporific]

Something NK does that's actually good for us?

Kim Jong Un faces his most dangerous enemy yet: holiday cheer. Can Most Glorious Leader stop Christmas from coming before it's too late?
collegehumor.com | video | December 17, 2013

:arrow: Click to play video.

kim-saves-christmas.jpg

collegehumor.com/video..kim-jong-un-christmas

[Russell]

Korea Execution Is Tied to Clash Over Businesses

The execution of the uncle of Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader, had its roots in a firefight between forces loyal to Mr. Kim and those supporting the man who was supposed to be his regent, according to accounts that are being pieced together by South Korean and American officials. The clash was over who would profit from North Korea’s most lucrative exports: coal, clams and crabs.

North Korean military forces were deployed to retake control of one of the sources of those exports, the rich crab and clam fishing grounds that Jang Song-thaek, the uncle of the country’s untested, 30-year-old leader, had seized from the military. In the battle for control of the fishing grounds, the emaciated, poorly trained North Korean forces “were beaten — very badly — by Uncle Jang’s loyalists,” according to one official.

The rout of his forces appears to have been the final straw for Mr. Kim, who saw his 67-year-old uncle as a threat to his authority over the military and, just as important, to his own family’s dwindling sources of revenue. Eventually, at Mr. Kim’s order, the North Korean military came back with a larger force and prevailed. Soon, Mr. Jang’s two top lieutenants were executed.

The two men died in front of a firing squad. But instead of rifles, the squad used antiaircraft machine guns, a form of execution that according to South Korean intelligence officials and news media was similar to the one used against some North Korean artists in August. Days later, Mr. Jang himself was publicly denounced, tried and executed, by more traditional means.

Given the opaqueness of North Korea’s inner circle, many details of the struggle between Mr. Kim and his uncle remain murky. But what is known suggests that while Mr. Kim has consolidated control and eliminated a potential rival, it has been at a huge cost: The open warfare between the two factions has revealed a huge fracture inside the country’s elite over who pockets the foreign currency — mostly Chinese renminbi — the country earns from the few nonnuclear exports its trading partners desire.

Only a few months ago Mr. Jang was believed to be the second most powerful man in North Korea. In fact, American intelligence agencies had reported to the White House and the State Department in late 2011 that he could well be running the country behind the scenes — and might edge out his inexperienced nephew for control. In part that was based on his deep relationship with top officials in China, as well as his extensive business connections there.

His highly unusual public humiliation and execution on Dec. 12 set off speculation about the possibility of a power struggle within the secretive government. But in recent days a more complex, nuanced story has emerged.

During a closed-door meeting on Monday of the South Korean National Assembly’s intelligence committee, Nam Jae-joon, the director of the National Intelligence Service, disputed the North’s assertion that Mr. Jang had tried to usurp his nephew’s power. Rather, he said, Mr. Jang and his associates had provoked the enmity of rivals within the North’s elite by dominating lucrative business deals, starting with the coal badly needed by China, the North’s main trading partner.

“There had been friction building up among the agencies of power in North Korea over privileges and over the abuse of power by Jang Song-thaek and his associates,” Mr. Nam was quoted as saying. Mr. Nam’s comments were relayed to the news media by Jeong Cheong-rae and Cho Won-jin, two lawmakers designated as spokesmen for the parliamentary committee.

In interviews, officials have said that the friction described in general terms to the South Korean Parliament played out in a violent confrontation in late September or early October, just north of the western sea border between the Koreas.

There, the North harvests one of its major exports: crabs and clams, delicacies that are also highly valued by the Chinese. For years the profits from those fishing grounds, along with the output from munitions factories and trading companies, went directly to the North Korean military, helping it feed its troops, and enabling its top officers to send cash gifts to the Kim family.

South Korea was a major market for the North’s mushrooms, clams, crabs, abalones and sea cucumbers until the South cut off trade with the North after the sinking of a South Korean Navy ship in 2010, forcing the North Korean military to rely on the Chinese market.

But when Mr. Kim succeeded his father two years ago, he took away some of the military’s fishing and trading rights and handed them to his cabinet, which he designated as the main agency to revive the economy. Mr. Jang was believed to have been a leading proponent of curtailing the military’s economic power.

Mr. Jang appears to have consolidated many of those trading rights under his own control — meaning that profits from the coal, crabs and clams went into his accounts, or those of state institutions under his control, including the administrative department of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, which he headed.

But this fall, the long-brewing tensions that arrangement created broke into the open. Radio Free Asia, in a report last week that cited anonymous North Korean sources, reported that Mr. Kim saw North Korean soldiers malnourished during his recent visits to islands near the disputed western sea border. They say he ordered Mr. Jang to hand over the operation of nearby fishing grounds back to the military.

According to accounts put together by South Korean and American officials, Mr. Jang and his associates resisted. When a company of about 150 North Korean soldiers showed up at the farm, Mr. Jang’s loyalists refused to hand over the operation, insisting that Mr. Jang himself would have to approve. The confrontation escalated into a gun battle, and Radio Free Asia reports that two soldiers were killed and that the army backed off. Officials say the number of casualties is unknown, but they have received similar accounts.

It is hard to know exactly how large a role the episode played in Mr. Jang’s downfall — there is more money in coal than in seafood — but Mr. Kim was reportedly enraged when he heard of the clash. Mr. Nam said that by mid-November his agents were already reporting that Mr. Jang had been detained. The Dec. 12 verdict noted that Mr. Jang “instructed his stooges to sell coal and other precious underground resources at random.”

Mr. Nam said the fact that such behind-the-scenes tensions had spun so far out of control that Mr. Kim had to order his own uncle’s execution raised questions about the government’s internal unity.

“The fissure within the regime could accelerate if it further loses popular support,” the lawmakers quoted Mr. Nam as saying.

Mr. Jang was the husband of Kim Kyong-hui, the only sister of Mr. Kim’s father, the longtime leader Kim Jong-il. Mr. Nam told the committee Monday that Mr. Kim’s aunt had retained her position in the hierarchy, even while the purge of Mr. Jang’s other associates continued. But he denied news reports in South Korea and Japan that some of Mr. Jang’s associates were seeking political asylum in Seoul and Beijing.

Mr. Nam pointed to Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae, the top political officer in the North Korean People’s Army, and Kim Won-hong, the head of the North’s secret police and its intelligence chief, as the government’s new rising figures since Mr. Jang’s execution, the two lawmakers said.

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An army with its own fishing grounds...

Sounds like a cool concept.