Daily

NK has learned that Kim Kyong Hui, who was not in attendance at yesterdays’

events to commemorate the second anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s death, has left

North Korea for medical treatment. She is said to be in a serious condition

following a seizure allegedly brought on by the execution of husband Jang Song Taek.



A

source based in South Hwanghae Province reported to Daily NK on the 19th, “Comrade

Kim Kyong Hui’s health has deteriorated so badly that she couldn’t even attend

the memorial event for the second anniversary of the General’s passing. We’re

aware that she has travelled overseas to receive treatment. Her health wasn’t

great as it was, and I hear that she suffered a heart attack when her husband

was executed by firing squad.”

The

source added, “This news came from a high-level Party cadre, so it’s accurate. He

said that cadres are critical amongst themselves, saying that no matter

what [Jang] may have done, he’s her husband and he was executed, not even sent

to a camp. Even with a heart of stone, would you be able to bear that?’”

According

to the source, among close cadres there is a sense that though they pretend to

console Kim Kyong Hui, in truth they feel greater sadness over the pitiful execution

of Jang. Among the general population, meanwhile, people believe that if Jang

and Kim had children, Jang wouldn’t have been killed.

The

source also reported that the Kim regime is passing responsibility onto Jang for

the failure of state projects. For instance, new agricultural management systems

were introduced this year, and their current failure is now being attributed to

Jang’s anti party, counter-revolutionary factionalism.

“This

year’s harvest has been better than others, but there hasn’t been much given

back to the farmers so there is deep unhappiness there,” he said. “Farmers had been expecting a lot of distribution but what they got was a distribution

document full of taxes included land rent, and even the little that they did

get was all taken away to ‘support’ the People’s Army.”

The

source went on, “Cadres are spreading word of Jang’s wrongdoings. They call it

an effect of Jang Song Taek’s distorted implementation of Party agricultural policy,

and claim he siphoned off rice collected to support the People’s Army and sent

it overseas in order to fill his pockets.” However, ordinary people, who no

longer trust the state, are not prepared to believe that Jang could be

responsible for so many of the nation’s ills.