Originally posted at The Blacksphere
Talk about having bad taste in men!
In a story that would send shivers down any civilized person’s spine, Hyon Song-wol, former lover of megalomaniac leader of North Korea/epitome of evil, Kim Jong-un, was rewarded for 10 years of devotion by being dragged before a firing squad.
Hyon and 11 other well-known North Korean pop music performers were recently arrested and, three days later, lined up and gunned down in a hail of machine gun bullets.
Like his father before him, Kim Jong-un is a merciless dictator with homicidal tendencies. Take for instance the matter of vice minister of the army Kim Chol.
In October 2012 Chol was executed for “drinking and carousing during the official mourning period after Kim Jong-il’s death.” Kim Jong-il’s little boy gave orders to leave “no trace of [Chol] behind, down to his hair.” After being forced to “stand on a spot zeroed in for a mortar round,” Chol was “obliterated.”
Apparently Kim Jong-un has eclectic tastes in execution methods. Hyon Song-wol wasn’t blown up: she was taken out with gunshots.
A well-known singer and performer with the famous revolutionary and propaganda band Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble as well as the Unhasu Orchestra, Hyon Song-wol and the other performers were arrested for violating domestic laws against pornography.
After some of the prisoners were found to be in possession of Bibles, they were immediately considered political dissidents. What’s wrong with this picture? The Supreme Leader couldn’t come up with something better than porn and Bibles?
Either way, in North Korea, it’s the law: No Bibles and no pornography.
To drive home the ‘no Bibles and no pornography’ point, immediate family and key members of the Unhasu Orchestra, Wangjaesan Light Band, and Moranbong Band members were forced to watch the executions, forbidden to look away.
In Hyon’s case, present at her killing were her husband – an officer in the North Korean military – and her small child, both of whom were sent, along with the family members of the rest of those killed, to a prison camp for the barbaric crime of guilt by association.
Hyon became well known for the song “Excellent Horse-Like Lady.” In addition, her band is known for patriotic hits such as “Footsteps of Soldiers,” “I Love Pyongyang,” “She is a Discharged Soldier,” and “We are Troops of the Party.”
According to an intelligence official, Kim and Hyon have “known each other since they were in their teens, [when] it came to light that rumors about the two having an affair have been circulating among Pyongyang’s top elite.”
Although they were friends and lovers for about 10 years, the late Kim Jong-il forced his son to break off the relationship with the singer. Allegedly, Hyon went on to marry and have a baby, but after Kim Jong-il’s death was believed to still be seeing Kim Jong-un.
Coincidentally, before their marriage, Kim’s wife, singer Ri Sol-ju, was also a member of the same Unhasu Orchestra. Now the belief is that Bibles and pornography weren’t the issue, but that Ri wanted to dispose of her husband’s former lover and he complied.
Word to Ri Sol-ju: Whatever you do, in the future, it might be wise to refrain from nagging or irritating hubby.
Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor at Tokyo’s Waseda University and an authority on North Korean affairs, says that if pornography was really the case, “They could have been made to disappear into the prison system there instead.”
Professor Shigemura believes that based on the severity and cruelty of the punishment, “There is a political reason behind this.” It’s either that or, he concedes, “it is possible that these executions are more about Kim’s wife” having a problem with her husband’s ex-lover having such a high profile.
Prior to their marriage, Mrs. Kim Jong-un was forced to give up her singing career and endure six months of special training, which may be why the diminutive first lady had the stomach to demand that 12 people be machine-gunned to death under false pretenses.
So, by evil North Korean dictator standards, Ri Sol-ju was clearly an excellent student, and has proven herself to be the perfect mate for the cruel and vicious Lil’ Kim.
