Sometime in early January — nobody seems to know quite when — North Korean intelligence official Ryu Kyong disappeared, apparently executed.
The number two man, and perhaps de facto number one man, in the State Security Department and a longtime Kim Jon-il ally, Ryu was reportedly “summoned by Kim Jong-il in early January and on his way to Kim’s residence, was arrested by members of the General Guard Bureau. He was interrogated and secretly executed.”
Speculative reason: the Leader viewed Ryu as having grown too powerful, and therefore as a potential rival to a clean succession for Kim Jong-un.
“With Ryu, many others were purged at the State Security Department,” a Seoul analyst said. “We can say that as he gained control of the department, Kim Jong-un needed to give jobs to people loyal to him.”
On this day..
- 1879: Juan Oliva Moncusi, attempted regicide
- 1745: William Hook
- 1957: Geza Szivos
- 1944: Kaj Munk, Danish pastor-poet
- 1794: Nicolas Luckner, German marshal of France
- 1568: Eighty-four Valenciennes iconoclasts
- 1943: "Native parachutists" in Morocco
- 1897: The Bicol martyrs of Philippines independence
- 1721: John Stewart, pirate
- 1943: Jerzy Iwanow (Georgios Ivanof)
- 1946: The treacherous Theodore Schurch
- 838: Babak Khorramdin