BS: North Korean Music Critic

Subject: BS: North Korean Music Critic
From: beardedbruce
Date: 29 Aug 13 - 09:19 AM

Kim Jong-un's ex-lover 'executed by firing squad'
Kim Jong-un's ex-girlfriend was among a dozen well-known North Korean performers who were executed by firing squad nine days ago, according to South Korean reports.

Hyon Song-wol, a singer and rumoured to be a former lover of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un

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By Julian Ryall, Tokyo10:09AM BST 29 Aug 2013

Hyon Song-wol, a singer, rumoured to be a former lover of the North Korean leader, is said to have been arrested on Aug 17 with 11 others for violating laws against pornography.
Hyon Song-wol starred in the video for her 2005 hit 'A Girl In The Saddle Of A Steed'
The reports in South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper indicate that Hyon, a singer with the Unhasu Orchestra, was among those arrested on August 17 for violating domestic laws on pornography.
All 12 were machine-gunned three days later, with other members of North Korea's most famous pop groups and their immediate families forced to watch. The onlookers were then sent to prison camps, victims of the regime's assumption of guilt by association, the reports stated.
"They were executed with machine guns while the key members of the Unhasu Orchestra, Wangjaesan Light Band and Moranbong Band as well as the families of the victims looked on," said a Chinese source reported in the newspaper.

more at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/10272953/Kim-Jong-uns-ex-lover-executed-by-firing-squad.html

Subject: RE: BS: North Korean Music Critic
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Aug 13 - 10:24 AM

Nothing in Yonhap or Japan Times.

Subject: RE: BS: North Korean Music Critic
From: Eric the Viking
Date: 29 Aug 13 - 11:34 AM

Perhaps he could be the next judge on "Britain's got (no) talent".

Subject: RE: BS: North Korean Music Critic
From: beardedbruce
Date: 29 Aug 13 - 11:48 AM

She was luckier than Kim Chol, vice minister of the army, who was executed with a mortar round in October 2012.
Kim Chol was reportedly executed for drinking and carousing during the official mourning period after Kim Jong-il's death.
On the explicit orders of Kim Jong-un to leave "no trace of him behind, down to his hair," according to South Korean media, Kim Chol was forced to stand on a spot that had been zeroed in for a mortar round and "obliterated."

Subject: RE: BS: North Korean Music Critic
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 29 Aug 13 - 11:56 AM

See article on Hyon Song-wol in Wikipedia.

Her execution may have been the result of political infighting suggests one source.

Fairly widely reported in the press. Basic article in Chosunilbo
(on line, link in Wikipedia). The Chosun Ilbo (South Korea) has an English edition.

Subject: RE: BS: North Korean Music Critic
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Aug 13 - 03:14 PM

Oh, it doesn't surprise me in the least. Damned little NK does surprises me. Their leaders have been nuts and the present one continues the inheritance.

DPRK -- Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. With the leadership inherited, how is it either "Democratic" or a "Republic"?

Just askin'.

Subject: RE: BS: North Korean Music Critic
From: Eric the Viking
Date: 29 Aug 13 - 07:09 PM

But we ain't so keen to go in there and sort out their humanitarian problems are we?

Subject: RE: BS: North Korean Music Critic
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 30 Aug 13 - 03:42 PM

Are Beiber, Cyrus and Thicke lucky to be living in democracies?

Subject: RE: BS: Axis of Evil goes nuclear
From: Sawzaw
Date: 31 Aug 13 - 04:30 PM

Kim Chol was forced to stand on a spot that had been zeroed in for a mortar round and "obliterated".

"The 12 executed were singers, musicians or dancers with Hyon's band"



Kim Jong-un's former girlfriend was among a dozen well-known North Korean performers who were executed by machinegun, it was claimed Thursday.

Hyon Song-wol, a singer, rumoured to be a former lover of the North Korean leader, is said to have been arrested In North Korea on August 17 with 11 others for supposedly violating laws against pornography, according to reports in South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper.

All 12 were executed by machine gun three days later, with other members of North Korea's most famous pop groups and their immediate families forced to watch. The onlookers were then sent to prison camps, victims of the regime's assumption of guilt by association, the reports stated.

"They were executed with machineguns while the key members of the Unhasu Orchestra, Wangjaesan Light Band and Moranbong Band, as well as the families of the victims, looked on," a Chinese source told the newspaper.

The 12 executed were singers, musicians or dancers with Hyon's band, the Unhasu Orchestra, or the Wangjaesan Light Music Band and were accused of making videos of themselves performing sex acts and then selling the recordings.

The reports stated that both groups have been disbanded as a result of the scandal.

Some of the musicians were also found to have Bibles when they were detained and all were treated as political dissidents.

Kim Jong-un, who became leader of North Korea after the death of his father in December 2011, is believed to have met Hyon about 10 years ago and struck up a relationship.

His father, Kim Jong-il, did not approve of the relationship and ordered him to break it off.

Hyon subsequently married an officer in the North Korean military and reportedly had a baby, although there are suggestions that Hyon continued to see Kim after her marriage.

Kim's wife, Ri Sol-ju, was also a member of the Unhasu Orchestra before marriage and one theory is that Ri objected to the continuing high profile of her husband's former girlfriend.

North Korea's communist dictator reportedly purged his own stepmother, Kim Ok, from her post as a senior official in the Workers' Party Finance and Accounting Department as he sought to tighten his grip on power within the country. She was luckier than Kim Chol, a vice-minister of the army, who was executed with a mortar round in October 2012. He was reportedly guilty of drinking and carousing during the official mourning period after Kim Jong-il's death. On the explicit orders of Kim Jong-un to leave "no trace of him behind, down to his hair", according to South Korean media, Kim Chol was forced to stand on a spot that had been zeroed in for a mortar round and "obliterated".

Read more:

Subject: RE: BS: North Korean Music Critic
From: Little Hawk
Date: 31 Aug 13 - 05:32 PM

Yes, these are among the numerous reasons I have decided not to do a singing tour in North Korea....