Jang: North Korea

North Korea: Jang, 67, who was once believed to be the second most powerful man in North Korea, was executed on Dec. 12 on charges of plotting to overthrow his nephew's government, four days after he was hauled out of a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party at which he was stripped of all titles. The highly unusual public purge and execution of a member of the North's ruling family has set off widespread speculation about the possibility of a power struggle within the secretive regime. , according to Hamilton Spectator. "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," Nam was quoted as saying. SEOUL, South Korea South Korea's intelligence chief said Monday that Jang Song-thaek, the uncle of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, who was executed this month, apparently had not plotted a coup as Pyongyang had said, but had fallen victim to intrigue within the country's elite over lucrative business deals, according to lawmakers in Seoul. During a closed-door meeting Monday of the South Korean National Assembly's intelligence committee, Nam Jae-Joon, director of the National Intelligence Service, disputed Pyongyang's assertion that Jang had tried to usurp his nephew's power. Rather, he said, Jang and his associates had provoked the enmity of rivals within the North's elite by dominating lucrative business deals, such as the sale of North Korean coal to China. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.